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What? No Hurricanes? Then We're Knocking on Doors in Florida (A Senate Swing State Diary) [1]

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Date: 2022-07-28

Whereas last summer, weather was often the major concern in planning Saturday canvassing, this year Florida has been downright normal (for Florida). We look to complete all canvassing before it hits 90 degrees, even if it can be muggy at times. Afternoon rains usually come in afterward. Like last week, we had a couple of candidates show up (most come out to walk with us and they usually stick to the plan) — Florida’s primaries are coming up and, like many of these states, we are really the only organized canvass (isn’t that just sad?) in these areas.

408 volunteers came out on Saturday to knock on doors for Hope Springs from Field PAC. We continue to canvass in Hispanic neighborhoods in Osceola and the Orlando suburbs of Seminole County. We are focused on the I-4 corridor. The area where statewide elections get decided.

The Economy was the number one concern we heard in Central Florida. Voters are really concerned about the economic uncertainty on the Tourist Economy. Lots and lots of comments about how Florida just has not returned to (pre-Covid) normal. And some of the steps Florida’s governor has taken in the last few months have increased concern among the voters with whom we have talked. Concerns about Health Care Costs was second. Crime was third.

52% of the voters we talked to expressed approval of President Biden in Florida on Saturday. 13% expressed disapproval in the job the president was doing.

DeSantis’ approval numbers are still stuck in single digits in Central Florida, 4% on Saturday; disapproval of DeSantis was 51%. Senator Rubio’s approval numbers was 16% this week. Still underwater, though (34% disapproved of Rubio’s job performance). One voter told us they couldn’t wait until October (they probably wrongly expect the television assault to start later than most) when the comparison ads take Rubio down. Even for Florida, a very expensive media market, the expectation of wall to wall television political ads seems common this time.

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 16 New Voters last Saturday and updated (or corrected) the addresses of another 101 voters. Did I mention that the weather (for Florida) was lovely? People are more likely to fill out a form on a tablet when it’s nice outside.

But the main focus of our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. We find that most voters who aren’t in a hurry or in the middle of something are willing to answer at least a couple of these questions, especially their top issue or concern and their views of President Biden. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.

We also ask people who open their doors about whether they need public services delivered to their neighborhood. 82 voters 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 if they have any concerns about the upcoming elections. Last year, we walked with lit about the changes in voting laws in Florida, but we also asked voters about their fears and experience in prior elections. Voters who say they have experience voter intimidation or other problems with voting are asked to fill out Incident Reports. We found 3 voters who wanted to fill out Incident Reports in Florida on Saturday. These are voters who witnessed some form of voter intimidation or malfeasance at the polls. 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.

If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, 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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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/28/2112879/-Florida

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