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Angry Voters, Stupid Senators: Senate Swing State Canvassing in Wisconsin [1]
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Date: 2022-07-14
Sometimes, you just catch fire. During the holiday weekend, 87 volunteers came out to knock on doors (and it was much appreciated). But on Saturday, 253 volunteers canvased with Hope Springs from Field PAC. Outside of Georgia, where we have been knocking on doors since 2020, Wisconsin was the big winner in volunteer turnout. Well done!
There is a reason; the desire to rid Wisconsin of its embarrassment of a senator is all the motivation needed. To that end, we continue to canvass in Milwaukee (where we are canvassing in African-American wards), as well as Waukesha and Dane counties. The swing areas of this Senate Swing State.
We knocked on doors with our Issues Questionnaire, which we use as a conversational device to make it easier for both volunteers and voters. But it is also a prop. We train volunteers to share their clipboard (with the Issues Survey) with voters we are talking to so they can see the questions and know that we will not be taking up much of their time. And we find that, by sharing it this way, many voters pick out the questions they want to answer — sometimes even moving directly to those questions. But this tactic means that we tend to get about 65% of those who answer their doors to provide at least 2 answers to the survey, and generally answer at least 6 questions.
This week, Gun Violence was the most popular response to “What Issue is most Urgent?” The Economy was the second most frequent response and concerns about Health Care Costs was third. We still heard a lot additional comments about Reproductive Rights and Gun Violence in the “Anything to add” or message to Congress query. We found lots of anger out there, not directed at the same person or thing, but all focused around one person: the sitting senator of Wisconsin.
Voter views of President Biden have been pretty steady so far in Wisconsin. 57% of the voters we talked to expressed approval of President Biden last Saturday, a slight uptick. 11% expressed disapproval in the job the president was doing. And, once again, we did get feedback from voters that they wished Biden could or would do more about inflation and gun violence in their area.
The Wisconsin voters we talked to on Saturday had choice words about Ron Johnson (my favorite of those passed along to me was, ‘He [Johnson] makes us look stupid’). 3% of the voters we talked to had a positive view of the senator. This week, only 58% told us they had an unfavorable opinion.
Governor Evers, on the other hand, got a better reception. 49% of the Democratic and Independent voters we talked to gave Evers a favorable rating. 11% said they had an unfavorable impression.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First Round of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets or victims) of these new voter suppression laws.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Hope Springs from Field PAC understands that repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors — and we didn’t register new voters (while Republicans dud). We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be cured.
But we are also cognizant that Democratic turnout has traditionally dropped off more than Republicans in non-presidential years — although we are very cognizant of the fact that voter turnout in Milwaukee dropped off in 2020, as well. So early, frequent voter contact is more important to our side. Equally important, though, is that starting early means that we can make up for our inability to register new voters in the presidential election because we took Covid and the health of our base seriously. Registering new voters (and re-registering existing voters at their current address, in compliance with HAVA) at their door is the hard way to do voter registration, but we catch people that our voter registration campaigns can miss because of their emphasis on larger-scale or mass voter registration.
We registered 21 New Voters last Saturday and updated (or corrected) the addresses of another 72 voters.
As you can see from the very first question in the Issues Questionnaire, making sure that voters are registered from their current address is a major function of early canvassing. But we are also asking people who open their doors about whether they need services delivered to their neighborhood. 53 voters we talked to filled out Constituent Service Request forms last Saturday. In general, we send these to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
We specifically ask voters in the Issues Survey if they have any concerns about the upcoming elections. Voters who tell us they have experience voter intimidation or other problems with voting are asked to fill out Incident Reports. We found 6 voters in Milwaukee who wanted to fill out an Incident Report in Milwaukee on Saturday. We collate these Incident Reports, to be shared with local, state and federal officials in charge of voting, as well as use them to plan out our Election Protection strategy in the fall. They could also be used in court cases.
But asking — and collecting — Incident Reports has a second purpose at this time. We are reminding voters that we care about Election Protection, that if they witness something, they can say something and it will matter. It also assures them that we are ready to do something if they see something.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with Wisconsin’s voting laws, Hope Springs from Field PAC seeks to undermine the Republican strategy of shaping the electorate.
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!
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