There is an age old question – when is it best to canvass?
The easy answer is any time is good. However, the truth is – of course – more complex. You can knock on doors at any point. It will have an impact and gain data. But knocks on the door before Christmas – before people’s attention is on upcoming elections – have real impact and increase Lib Dem support.
“Currently, we are canvassing as much as possible. We really push this in the Autumn. All our target and development wards have at least one canvassing session a week, and often more” says Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson, Chair of the Campaign Committee of Portsmouth Lib Dems. “This is key to our long-term success.”
“One thing is clear. We find that people are more willing to talk in the Autumn, and the conversations we have are better. This isn’t simply about getting data, it is about building relationships and developing our support.”
“Another key is building our postal voters up, by converting supporters into postal voters.”
Cllr Jeanette Sunderland, a long-term councillor on Bradford City Council, says “People are surprised to see you at this time of year, and spend time discussing local issues. They want to be kept in touch, so don’t forget to ask for their email address, so they can join your local news list.”
“It is also a good time to ask people to help!”
Postal votes are important. We know postal voters vote more often (in local elections that can be twice or more as often as non-postal voters). The best way to lock in a Lib Dem vote is to get that supporter to register for a postal vote.
The impact you make is important. It shows that we work all year round. People talk, and the average door knock will impact multiple people. Cllr Louise Harris, the cabinet member for Climate and Nature emergency on South Gloucestershire Council, commented that “Someone said to me the other day ‘It’s great you come round not just because there’s an election coming’.”
Politics is more volatile than at any time in recent years. Probably since the Second World War. We can already see in local elections and local by-elections that a group of people who don’t normally vote are turning out. Previously reliable voters are staying at home. More people are changing the party they vote for – and doing so rapidly. This means that doorstep conversations we have now, and the data we gather from them, is vital. At the same time the value of historic data is reduced.
Cllr Caroline Leaver, who won re-election to Devon County Council in May, explains “Put simply, we need to speak to more people; more often and in greater volume than ever. We cannot achieve this by only canvassing only around election time.”
In large wards we will not be able to talk to enough people if we don’t get on with it now. Cllr James Calder, from Dunfermline in Fife (which has large wards and STV elections), comments, “It is absolutely essential to be knocking on doors in Autumn. By canvassing now, we get that crucial data for getting our voters to the polls in Spring, and we avoid the pitfall of canvassing too little, too late.”
“It also means we can get a good sense of understanding on how we are doing in our target wards, meaning we can more effectively deploy our resources.”
In summary, what are we trying to do?
During peacetime canvassing, we want to:
- Have good conversations with voters when they don’t feel we are calling just because it is election time (because we are genuinely not doing that).
- Listen to local views and build a campaign profile that responds to residents’ priorities before an election.
- Develop our narrative to make it election-winning.
- Gather meaningful data, including voting preferences and email addresses, allowing us to build long term relationships with voters.
- To convert Lib Dem supporters who don’t always vote into postal voters.
Above all, knocking on doors now is about taking the time to listen, to learn and to respond.