Canvassing is the systematic contacting of individuals in a target group, often in a particular geographic area. It is commonly used before or during elections by political campaigns. Similar techniques are used by non-governmental organizations, labor unions, churches, poll takers, and even commercial enterprises (such as encyclopedia or vacuum salespeople). Political campaign Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A political campaign is an organized effort to influence the decision making process within a group. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. ... In the past, political campaigns were conducted using traditional methods of personal contact, such as television and radio media purchasing, print advertising and direct mail. ... Opposition research often referred to as oppo is the section of an election campaign designed to investigate the life and record of the opposing candidate. ... Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. ... In politics, campaign advertising is the use of paid media (newspapers, radio, television, etc. ... Political campaign Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An election promise is a promise made to the public by a politician who is trying to win an election. ... Get out the vote, sometimes GOTV, is a term used to describe two categories of political activity, both aimed at increasing the number of votes cast in one or more elections. ... Lawn signs placed near a polling place in the U.S., July 2004 Lawn signs are one of the most visible features of an election campaign in some countries. ... Negative campaigning is trying to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing ones own positive attributes or preferred policies. ... An attack ad in election terms is an advertisement whose message is meant as an attack against another candidate or political party. ... Fear mongering is often used in a time of war as a political tactic to frighten citizens and influence their political views. ... A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. ... A smear campaign or smear tactics are deliberate attempts by an individual or group to malign another individual or groups reputation. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Look up Candidate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In United States and other democracies, political campaigns larger than a few individuals generally include a campaign manager whose role is to coordinate the campaigns operations. ... The staff of political campaigns are the people who get paid to formulate and implement the strategy needed to win an election. ... An election is a decision making process whereby people vote for preferred political candidates or parties to act as representatives in government. ... Political campaign Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A political campaign is an organized effort to influence the decision making process within a group. ... The term non-governmental organization (NGO) is used in a variety of ways all over the world and, depending on the context in which it is used, can refer to many different types of organizations. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... A religious denomination (also simply denomination) is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity. ... Regular vacuum cleaner for home use. ...

A "canvass" can be organized with different desired goals:

• Identifying supporters
• Distributing information
• Persuasion
• Fundraising
• Signing up new members
• Voter registration
• Encouraging people to vote (Get Out The Vote, GOTV)

In some cases a given canvass will attempt to achieve outcomes across some combination of these goals. For example a canvass focused on persuading people to vote for a particular candidate or ballot issue may also solitcit funds and sign up new members to an organization.

A key concept in canvassing is to target the population that is being contacted. For example if the goal of a canvass is to turn out voters on election day for a Democratic candidate then knocking on Republican doors may not be a great use of time and resources. Targeting can be quite complex and sophisticated and may employ voting history data, census data, and consumer habits. Part of an overall field strategy may be to do a canvass focussed on identifying likely supporters who will then be approached at a later date by another canvass for GOTV. Even if sophisticated data is not available, most field operations professionals will spend energy trying to reduce randomness in their contacts in an attempt to optimize their use of time and resources. The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...

While converting voters would ideally be a central goal, it is difficult, requiring knowledgeable and charismatic canvassers, and time-consuming. To reach every voter in a district a canvasser cannot spend more than one or two minutes per person, rarely enough time to have a significant discussion. Persuasion canvassing will often involve the dropping of literature and campaign marketing materials like lawn signs, window signs, and bumper stickers (given to supporters). As canvassers work a population they will often make careful notes and use classification codes to record their interaction with the public.

There are two basic types of canvassing: field canvasses and phone canvasses.

Field canvasses

Field canvasses are done by going door to door to every home and apartment in a district, a ZIP code or some other unit of geographic measurement. They have the advantage that people are generally more open to talking to someone in person and literature can be delivered and lawn signs put up at the same time as the canvass. A field canvass can also guarantee completeness as each house can be accounted for. A field canvass is usually done by one or two individuals, either both at one door, or one on each side of the street. Mr. ... Lawn signs placed near a polling place in the U.S., July 2004 Lawn signs are one of the most visible features of an election campaign in some countries. ...

Candidate canvasses

A variation of the field canvass is a candidate canvass; these are done with the actual candidate in a district. These have great potential as people are far more likely to vote for a candidate they have seen in person. With only one candidate, however, time is a valuable commodity. The candidate is thus usually accompanied by a half dozen or more volunteers who knock on doors. If they find no one home the candidate does not go to that home. If they find a person the volunteer finds out if they would like to meet the candidate. If they would the volunteer signals the candidate.

This technique optimizes the amount of time a candidate spends speaking to potential voters.

Phone canvasses

Phone canvasses can reach more people more quickly than a field canvass; messages can be left on answering machines and there is far less exertion on the part of volunteers. A phone bank environment also means knowledgeable coordinators can keep far closer track of what the volunteers are doing. In rural areas phone canvasses are the only method efficient enough to reach most voters. Apartment buildings are also often better reached by phone canvasses as residents there are unused to and discomfited by opening the door to strangers. There are a number of disadvantages, however. Many voters are put off by anything resembling telemarketing. Getting an accurate and up-to-date list of phone numbers for everyone in a district is very difficult with a considerable percent of numbers becoming out of date in only a few months. ... Phone bank can mean: A collection of telephones within an organisation such as a call centre. ... Telemarketing Office Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson uses the telephone to solicit prospective customers to buy products or services. ...

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• Political campaign staff
• Canvassing - Wikipedia internal policy
• Progressive Action Network - trains and develops canvass leadership for progressive organizations in the US

Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. ... The staff of political campaigns are the people who get paid to formulate and implement the strategy needed to win an election. ...

References

For a critical and predominantly negative review of fund-raising canvassing in America, see: Fisher, Dana R. 2006. Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns is Strangling Progressive Politics in America. Stanford University Press.