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Taking It to the Doors: Rocking & Rollin' in Wisconsin: A Senate Swing State Canvass Report [1]
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Date: 2022-07-22
I have been trying to visit one of our canvasses each week. Mostly, I go to meet with our organizers and talk through any issues especially about how the turf is cut, etc, but this week I came up to Wisconsin because of the weather. It did not disappoint.
I don’t think it will surprise anyone that when the weather is nice (like Saturday in Milwaukee), more volunteers show up than when it is not. So, on Saturday, 301 volunteers canvased with Hope Springs from Field PAC. Now last week (7/9), Wisconsin had our second highest number of volunteers, but this week, Florida had good weather, as well, so it was third. Georgia, of course, with an extra six month head start, always leads the pack.
We knock on doors with our Issues Questionnaire, which we use as a conversational device to make it easier for both volunteers and voters. 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, Jobs was the most popular response to “What Issue is most Urgent?” A particular, meaning new, concern raised were jobs for younger people, specifically graduates. The Economy was the second most frequent response and concerns about Crime 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.
54% of the voters we talked to expressed approval of President Biden last Saturday, a slight uptick. 12% 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.
4% of the voters we talked to had a positive view of Ron Johnson. We are definitely not canvassing in areas kind to him. This week, 61% of voters told us they had an unfavorable opinion.
Governor Evers, on the other hand, got a better reception. 51% of the Democratic and Independent voters we talked to gave Evers a favorable rating. 10% 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.
We registered 8 New Voters last Saturday and updated (or corrected) the addresses of another 63 voters. While we found new voters in all three of the areas we canvassed on Saturday, a majority of those we re-registered came from within Milwaukee.
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. 121 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 8 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.
Now the weather was not my favorite thing about canvassing with our volunteers on Saturday. I am a big believer in you should walk turf you cut because the maps always look different than the streets. Something about scale. But that isn’t why I go out and knock on doors. The first and the last (GOTV) rounds of canvassing are always the most fun. Voters are fun, definitely have different perspectives. In Milwaukee, one older African-American voter told me it was too early to be knocking on doors (11 AM on a Saturday) and she laughed heartily when I asked her what she had been doing last night. But she filled out an Incident Report because the Accessible Entrance where she votes is “too far away.”
Another voter I talked to complained about how she never heard anything about Gov. Evers anymore. I talked to another voter who was mowing his lawn when I walked up. Instead of sending me on my way, he insisted his wife talk to me. They were indy voters on my list, and he was so taken by the Issues Survey that he ended up answering questions, too (2 for 1!). Then she took me next door to talk to her neighbor. To be honest, being introduced to a neighbor was a new one for me. Very nice independent voters.
But I think my big take away last weekend was voter’s discomfort with President Biden. Approval through clinched teeth? “We got to have somebody younger, don’t we?” one voter asked. Now I only talked to 8 people (3 at one “stop”), in two counties. I sat in with training in Milwaukee and with canvass returns in Brookfield. But everywhere I was on Saturday, people asked me who I thought was best positioned to beat Ron Johnson. They were eager for information (which I didn’t have (although I couldn’t tell them I live in Virginia)). The weather was nice, too (did I mention that?). I still can’t believe the Wisconsin primary wasn’t in April.
But 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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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/22/2111917/-Wisconsin
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