"We brainstormed every idea and tried every idea, overwhelmingly those ideas failed," he says. However, a modern technique of deep canvassing developed by David Fleischer at the Leadership LAB encourages canvassers to engage in one-on-one conversations with the intention of gaining understanding, building empathy, and finding common ground. After a long day of canvassing on that Saturday, tired but exuberant volunteers returned for a debriefing. "We had a certain sense of responsibility.". You can also contribute via. By submitting your email, you agree to our, The Dark Brandonmeme and why the Biden campaign has embraced it explained, The secret delegate battle that will decide the 2024 Republican nominee. We work to empower volunteers to connect the personal to the political with voters in order to make long-term, meaningful impacts on elections. Deep canvassing has become a buzzword in relational organizing - and it all started at the Leadership LAB during the fight for marriage equality in California in 2008. Talking about marriage brought up deep emotion. In many campaigns, polling data and focus groups tell us that very few people are persuadable, so we ignore those voters and stick with talking to the voters who are already on our side. Were asking voters not to discriminate, to be less prejudiced, and we need to walk that walk, she said. Treat it like the most normal thing in the world. Caitlin Homrich-Knieling, Deep Canvass Coordinator at We the People Michigan in the United States talks about script development and how they come up with script as well as a useful tool called The Cone of Curiosity. If he had his way, Fleischer would knock on doors with a golf ball. See below for examples around particular issues including climate change and marriage equality. Let's say you want to beat Candidate X who won in Michigan by 10,000 votes. Our work in Orange County during the . Something went wrong. Broockman and Kalla found that the treatment group was considerably more accepting of transgender people and that a single, approximately 10-minute conversation with a stranger can markedly reduce prejudice for at least three months. Unlike LaCours invented finding that the messenger matters more than the message, Broockman and Kalla found that both transgender and nontransgender canvassers were effective. It was an important study: Not only has social science found very few strategies that work, in experiments, to change minds on issues of prejudice, but even fewer tests of those strategies have occurred in the real world. Have a Conversation. It includes those who immediately shut the door in the canvassers face. Well use these conversations at the door to engage people who are currently sitting out elections, to recruit the people who are already with us to volunteer, and to persuade people who supported Trump but have a shared interest in our agenda of racial and economic justice. That also worked. If a group wanted to oppose him in the next election, you would want to have 50,000 conversations to change 5,000 voters minds. They may come in organically through the website. In 2020, these seem like radical propositions. LGBT Center volunteers went out to canvass hundreds of people. Dave Fleischer, director of the center's Leadership LAB, welcomed the academics' independent measurement of its canvassing program. That, Williams thinks, might have helped persuade him to be more supportive of nondiscrimination measures. I made a mistake, she said. Dates: March 31 from 1:00-2:00 PM EST and April 7 from 1:00-2:00 PM EST. Canvassing for climate action: Heres how to make it work, 2021 (Podcast 40:53 mins). A few days before, the Human Rights Campaign released a report warning about 44 anti-transgender bills filed in 16 states. Canvassing needs to be managed. Do you have a script? Since then, Matthew has organized around disaster relief in Houston after Hurricane Harvey, and worked as a regional field director for the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Northern Nevada. I dont like seeing people mistreat Jackson. The idea grew out of Fleischers own experience as a Jewish, liberal gay kid in Chillicothe, Ohio. Theres also the question: Is it worth the effort? These deep conversations, I suspect, may be more cost-effective in the long run because the impacts are durable, Serrano says. (You can read the full deep canvassing script here on page 47.). The year before, a survey of more than 6,000 transgender and gender-nonconforming people revealed that an astonishing 41 percent had tried to commit suicide. Studies on deep canvassing suggest a conversion rate of 10%. Eager to know if his abortion canvassing was persuasive, Fleischer asked Broockman and Kalla to measure it. The canvassers thought the conversations were changing people's minds, but Fleischer says he couldn't know if it was working without independent verification. It also seemed to bolster the contact hypothesis theory of prejudice reduction, which finds that personal contact decreases bias against a minority group. In the experiment on immigration, Broockman and Kalla found that 78 percent of all the people who came to the door when the canvasser rang ended up staying for the entire conversation. The modern form of deep canvassing was developed by the Leadership LAB of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. This recorded webinar gives a walkthrough of the deep canvassing design process including instructional materials, tips sheets, and sample scripts. Paid for by Up PAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. There are three things. Her passion for social justice and teambuilding began in the woods of Timber, Oregon, where her family built a large community home around the core value of radical acceptance. A gray-haired Hispanic woman named Nancy cracked open the front door, though not enough to let her little dog eat our ankles. To run an ad campaign you just need a bank account and a media consultant. His previous research suggested that people dont change their mind very easily, and when they are persuaded to think differently, the effect is usually temporary, he told me. David Fleischer is the Director of the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Leadership LAB. But when pressed, LaCour couldnt produce any evidence that he had conducted the follow-up surveys of voters that would have been essential to measuring canvassings long-term influence. Thats likely a lot of people. They sent out surveys to thousands of homes in Miami, asking people to answer questions that included how they felt about transgender people and if they would support legal protection against discrimination for transgender people. Leadership Lab volunteers spoke with 3,330 residents in Pocatello, Idaho, a small, heavily Mormon city facing a ballot referendum that would have reversed a local nondiscrimination ordinance protecting gay and transgender people. "What we've learned by having real, in-depth conversations with people is that. If you would like to see first-hand what these one-on-one conversations are like, we encourage you to sign up to canvass with us. And finally, this method dramatically changes who volunteers on a campaignwe get a more engaged and self-motivated volunteer base when we tell volunteers to interact with voters as human beings rather than as robots. Its a type of conversation thats closer to what a psychotherapist might have with a patient than a typical political argument. Committing to curiosity rather than assumptions or judgment. Over the past few years, deep canvassing has been adopted by some progressive activist groups looking to not only change minds when it comes to policies on immigration and LGBTQ rights, but also to reduce prejudice toward these groups. For example, KED wont support Republicans or, potentially, certain Democrats facing primary challenges. "He kept saying high school is hard for everybody. Specifically, the canvasser asks the voter to recall a time when he or she was discriminated against. I think people dont talk enough about the focus on persuasion we had, because the story line became, Oh, they won because turnout was so high.. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Volunteers also encouraged people to talk about anyone they were close to who had an abortion. And the data shows it works. Have more questions about long form or deep canvassing? Matthew Rodriguez Matthew is an organizer from El Paso who believes the only way we fight against the systems of oppression is by building collective power. Whats the best way to convince a voter at the door? Do you have a few minutes today to talk about transgender people?, Williams played a busy voter. "To go into it with high hopes and then get this really bad piece of news, then to go forward anyway and have the accurate results? It has also attracted controversy. See video at 10:20 mins for script development process. Broockman and Kalla published the results in Science on Thursday. Maybe, as The Wall Street Journal suggested, Fleischers efforts merely flattered the ideological sensibilities of liberals. But this week, a new study published in Science by David Broockman, an assistant professor of political economy at Stanford, and Joshua Kalla, a graduate student in political science at Berkeley, appears to serve as vindication of Fleischers work. Volunteers went to the other half and started the conversations that Fleischer thinks can help change minds. Canvassers can get mugged, they can get lost, they can get attacked by wild geese, Michelson told me. Sharing narratives gets around that: The persuasion happens because in talking about themselves, the voters realize a more tolerant attitude is consistent with their self-image. What we can now say experimentally, the key to the success of these conversations is doing the exact opposite of that.. It was only in his 20s that he started to tell his folks the truth, and he started making the transition to living as a man. Read transcript and/or Read more about it. I felt like I could deal with facing the possibility of losing my dad and I could deal with the possibility of being rejected by the people I loved. In 2012, Steve embedded with the Minnesotans United marriage equality campaign, which mobilized over 14,000 LGBTQ and ally volunteers to have more than 220,000 deep canvass conversations on the phones, contributing to a first-ever ballot box victory that many thought impossible. That means not making assumptions based on the voters age, race or their religion. The numbers get a bit bigger when you just focus on people who actually entered into the conversation, he says. Like, of course were on your doorstep on a Saturday talking about transgender issues!, Moments later, Williams reminded the volunteers to be open and nonjudgmental. The distinguishing feature of a deep canvass is you take a lot more time to talk to voters and have a bona fide two-way conversation about real experiences that shape their thinking about the issues. This model encourages a freeform and reciprocal conversation between the volunteer canvasser and the voter. Right, because otherwise you have the biggest secret in the world, and everyone thinks something about you thats not true, Fleischer said, before pivoting to a story about Jacksons being demeaned by a waiter in a restaurant. Though not all voters would engage emotionally, I was surprised by how many did. Giving grace. "We found non-trans allies had a lasting effect as well," Broockman says. The biggest gift you can give someone whose mind you want to change is a supportive environment that lets them think about their experiences and how those experiences affect their opinions on issues. Without that theoretical understanding, its difficult to generalize and use the approach in other settings, Bruneau says. Yes, Leadership Lab volunteers had spoken to voters in Los Angeles about gay marriage. There are very few tests of prejudice reduction methods, and Paluck says this suggests the Los Angeles LGBT Center's approach is actually far more effective than previous efforts, like TV ads. Their Project Director, Dave Fleisher, describes it saying, "In a conventional canvass, campaigns try to control the message by sending volunteers out with a script to recite exactly as written. Nancy, it seemed, was a supporter no need to worry about her. Center, which houses the Leadership Lab, and proposed an unusual idea to his new colleagues: Canvassers should talk to Prop 8 supporters about why they had voted against same-sex marriage. (One clinical therapist I showed it to said it sounded a bit like motivational interviewing, a technique used to help clients work through ambivalent feelings.) Danny Timponais Movement Politics Field Director for Peoples Action. See also the AYCC website for more information about deep canvassing and an example of a useful Climate Conversation Report Tool. These conversations arent arguments. particularly those who are most at-risk for missing critical elections. "Burning the mental calories to do effortful thinking about it, that leaves a lasting imprint on your attitudes," he says. Think of any of our recent elections nobody is winning these things by 10 or 20 points. Youve probably had a time when people have judged you unfairly? he asked. Volunteers working a 2-hour shift, on an average, can complete 5 conversations. The effect was durable, too: Three to six months after the conversation, voters who shared their feelings with canvassers in this manner also reported less prejudice toward undocumented immigrants. LaCour and an advisor, political scientist Donald Green at Columbia University, published the findings in Science in 2014. Theres a smaller finding nestled in Broockman and Kallas new paper, one that might not make headlines but is worth thinking about. He also admitted to lying about having received funds for his study from several organizations, including the Ford Foundation. Its of a real voter and a canvasser from the Leadership Lab, a program of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which spearheaded this canvassing method after losing the 2008 Proposition 8 ballot initiative in California. That campaign completed 3,000 conversations, and persuaded over 40 percent of those people to support the amendment. But Fleischer is wary of what he calls the anti-discrimination declaration. At the Leadership Labs two-hour pre-canvass training that morning, volunteers were warned about fake 10s, people who think of themselves as against discrimination many of them Democrats but who can nonetheless be swayed by emotion-based appeals that provoke prejudice and fear. The groups feared a backlash against a recent ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. For me, I never had a transgender friend I was really close to until I was 56, he said, handing Nancy the picture. That means canvassing is much more about conversational skill rather than identity. It usually isnt until Fleischer opens up about his own experience including feeling different in his small, conservative Ohio town that voters feel safe to get vulnerable, too, he says. After the canvassing, 29 percent of the people in the placebo condition said they strongly supported policies inclusive of undocumented immigrants. Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense, she says. Taken advantage of us. Staying grounded in our real lived experiences instead of opinions. Then theres the duration and longevity of the impact. Deep canvassing, it appears from the research, has an effect that can last for several months. It's of a real voter and a canvasser from the Leadership Lab, a program of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which spearheaded this canvassing method after losing the 2008 Proposition 8 ballot. If they dont, and even if they do, theyre asked a question like, When was a time someone showed you compassion when you really needed it? to get them to reflect on their experience when they might have felt something similar to the people in the marginalized community. New distinctions Its a reminder that our political opponents arent always as rigid or ideologically severe as they appear in our minds. Though the abortion debate is less obviously rooted in prejudice than transgender discrimination, Fleischer and his canvassers noticed that many voters reacted negatively to a short video of a middle-aged woman recounting having an abortion when she was 22. This is not just a story of pushing on an open door and taking people who are already Democrats and they just needed a small push, Broockman adds. Were literally iterating this model every day with a handful of full-time paid organizers working as peers with hundreds of volunteers to figure out whats working, whats not, and what needs to be added, subtracted or changed from our processes. In his work, Bruneau finds that political partisans have a skewed view of how they think their opponents think of them. Third, we will help volunteer teams do data entry for volunteers. If the change was at all fragile, we should have seen people change their minds back [after three months]." Most notably, Ella led the LABs collaboration with SAVE, Miami-Dades leading LGBT group, to develop and measure a deep canvass model that could reduce transphobia. Now we can show experimentally that when you take away the two-way nature of the conversation, the effects go away, Broockman says. Broockman, now an assistant professor of political economy at Stanford University, says asking someone questions face-to-face like, "What are the reasons you wouldn't support protections for transgender people, or what does this make you think about?" The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Leadership LAB (Learn Act Build) specializes in deep canvassing and organizing through volunteer leadership development. They dont say if they are pleased or hurt by the response. Both were on display during many of the canvass conversations I observed, including the one with Nancy, the woman who moved to a five from a 10 after watching the opposition video. Jeffrey Fountain/Courtesy of Los Angeles LGBT Center. We hope to provide both new and seasoned grassroots activists with a quality canvassing training that will allow them to enhance their local power building around whichever issue or candidate of their choice. We have a national reputation for our success developing practical, positive, non-partisan, non-judgmental ways to connect with voters. "The LGBT community and our allies were shocked and upset," Fleischer says. Had he been completely honest, he might have said, Im here to make you less prejudiced. 3. #KnockEveryDoor serves as a nationwide hub for progressive canvassing training and deployment. But things fell apart when David Broockman and Joshua Kalla, then graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley, tried to use LaCour's methods to study prejudice against transgender people. Broockman says they didnt set out to find the exact mechanism. How long does a deep canvass program typically take? Heres a 2015 video example of deep canvassing. Were a progressive country, but were also a voting-suppressed country. Yeah, I would say so, she said. It can take six months or more for an organization were partnering with to get the hang of the method and recruit and train volunteers to carry it out. Which makes it feel like a big departure from a lot of the current political dialogue. And its this meta-perception, Bruneau finds, that then fuels ongoing conflict and dehumanization. "I told him that my father is fighting cancer right now. At Vox, we believe that everyone deserves access to information that helps them understand and shape the world they live in. Topping says, in their experience, deep canvassing works best on people who might be concerned about an issue like transgender people in bathrooms but have never really talked through their feelings. After the dust settled, Broockman and Kalla went on with their experiment on transgender prejudices. Without in-person, full-time, paid organizers running all aspects of the operation, we are piloting a canvass model that is lightweight, easier to learn via online training, and depends on peer-to-peer coaching, encouragement and knowledge sharing among volunteer hosts, canvassers and support team members. David Fleischer discusses best practices to approach deep canvassing to impact the mind of voters efficiently. That doesnt tell you about the person inside., On this particular day, volunteers would be canvassing in a predominantly black neighborhood, so Gardiner reminded them to be sensitive to experiences of race-based discrimination. I see transgender people as the same as I see myself, Nancy told him. Copyright 2021 by People's Action Institute and the New Conversation Institute. You can also go more in-depth on the science behind deep canvassing by reading the academic study referenced by the New York Times that was published by political scientists David Broockman and Josh Kalla in the peer-reviewed journal Science. Its only right. How Do You Change Voters Minds? The Leadership Lab, provides a much needed road map for that change.", Hap Klopp, Founder of The North Face, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Hult University " The Leadership Lab rightly shines a white hot spotlight on the need for 21st century leaders to be thinking about gender and provides a valuable snapshot on how to get . While #KnockEveryDoor will focus on the mechanics of canvassing, not the campaign objective of the canvasser, there will be minimal restrictions on what volunteers may canvass for. Since 2018, as the cofounder of the New Conversation Initiative and the New Conversation Institute, Steve has been a key partner in the development, rigorous testing, and implementation of deep canvass programs on issues from climate to immigration and policing.
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