Door-to-Door Canvassing: The Most Effective Way to Win Elections
Did you know that it takes 14 door knocks to generate one vote, and that face-to-face voter contact at the door increases voter turnout by 53% among those canvassed. This means that over half of the people who have a canvasser knock on their door go to the polls, when previously they might have stayed home.
In the book Winning Your Election the Wellstone Way, authors Jeff Blodgett and Bill Lofy note, “The best way to deliver a message is through direct, personal voter contact.
So why is face-to-face voter contact so effective?
Imagine a new restaurant opening in town. Despite its efforts in marketing, much like political candidates striving to build name recognition and share their message, the restaurant has put out “Grand Opening” signs, sent promotional coupons to mailboxes, and even sponsored posts on Instagram and Facebook targeting nearby residents. But one afternoon, a neighbor knocks on another neighbor’s door and shares a rave review of their date night the evening prior at the new restaurant in town. They have instantly been moved from barely noticing the new restaurant to making a reservation.
The power of a personal referral from a peer is unmatched. I share this analogy every time I teach a campaign school to new candidtes and operatives. I tell them to share this analogy as they train and recruit volunteers as well, because it is so important to always explain the “why behind the what” for volunteer buy-in.
This truth is as relevant in today’s high-tech, fast-paced world as it was in 1840, when Abraham Lincoln advised campaigns to “…keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence, and also to place in their hands such documents as will enlighten and influence them.”
There are various types of door-to-door canvassing: voter registration, voter identification (ID), persuasion, a mix of voter ID and persuasion, absentee ballot, and early vote ballot “chase” (AB/EV chase), and Get Out the Vote (GOTV), to name the most common. Whether you are a candidate, volunteer, or professional canvasser, remember this: If you are knocking on doors, you are engaging in the number-one activity to connect with and turn out voters.
This is because, in politics, personal connections and grassroots engagement at the door in our democratic process will always cut through the noise unlike any other form of voter contact. As the saying goes: “Doors win wars.”
I have seen this countless times in my career managing grassroots campaigns. My team and I were hired by a candidate in Connecticut named Ryan Fazio. Ryan was running for State Senate in a special election after the candidate who had just been elected only a few months prior resigned due to a personal controversy. This district was won by President Joe Biden by 10 points in the November 2020 election, yet, just nine months later in the August 2021 special election, we flipped the Senate district with Fazio winning by 2.5 points by focusing on a targeted door-to-door canvassing campaign to the right households with a message that would resonate with these voters. As one of the highest-taxed areas in the nation, we emphasized Fazio’s fiscal conservative values and his commitment to lessening the tax burden for Connecticut residents in a suburb of New York City. Ryan has done an exceptional job in the State Senate and is now running for Governor. His campaign is a great example of how even hard-to-win seats can be won with the right message to the right universe of voters. With a short amount of time and limited budget, door-to-door was the best focus for our campaign resources. We chose correctly, and Connecticut is better for it.
By knocking on doors and engaging directly with voters, we not only share our message but also inspire change and foster community connections. If you are an activist, have confidence that every conversation and every door knocked is making genuine impact.
To dive deeper into the study of how door knocks translate to votes, click on this link and download the full study for free.
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