[1]Swing LeftSwing Left
Hi there,
My name is Zack Malitz, and I’m the Managing Director here at Swing Left.
Recently I had a long chat about our new Ground Truth program with Micah
Sifry for his Substack newsletter, “The Connector.” It was a great
conversation, and I wanted to fill you in on what we talked about. [ [link removed] ]If
you’d like, you can read the full article here.
Why Ground Truth?
The first thing we talked about was why we’re putting so much effort and
so many resources behind Ground Truth. It comes down to the fact that,
although everyone has their own theories about why Democrats lost the last
election, we don’t actually know what the barriers to voting for Democrats
are.
Plus, existing canvassing methods aren’t really designed in a way that
will help us find out. Traditional campaigns start talking to voters way
too late, focus only on highly likely voters, rely on brief, transactional
interactions that are heavily scripted, and use archaic tech and data
infrastructure that actually stymies tactical innovation.
That’s why we’re going all in on Ground Truth: to answer definitively what
voters’ barriers are to voting for Democrats, and gain insights about how
to persuade them that traditional canvassing programs aren’t set up to do.
What Ground Truth Does Differently
Instead of relying on outdated methods, we decided to spend a couple of
months having conversations with people where we simply ask them
open-ended questions, including what their barriers are to voting for
Democrats. Then, using new custom-built tech, we're aggregating what we
hear and looking for what voters are thinking about that we might not
think to ask about in a traditional survey.
Many campaigns use the voter file to guide who volunteers talk to, but a
[ [link removed] ]2021 study of three commercial voter files found that in 2012 about 23%
of potential voters weren’t listed or were listed with incorrect contact
information—a striking number of people not to talk to. The voter file is
an incredibly valuable resource, but we can’t only talk to people who are
accurately listed. Instead, we’re talking to everyone.
And thanks to a new Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruling, we’re able
to run Ground Truth in coordination with campaigns—allowing us to share
insights directly with state parties and individual campaigns.
In addition to generating valuable canvassing data and sharing it to help
Democrats win in swing seats this year, this work can improve the voter
file for Democrats running in these swing districts in the future. It’s
also innovating not just how Swing Left engages with voters, but provides
a new model that the broader Democratic ecosystem can learn from.
What We’ve Learned So Far
I had the opportunity to run the first Ground Truth canvas in Oregon’s 5th
Congressional District, and the raw, unfiltered experience of the voters
was pretty eye-opening.
I knocked on a woman’s door, and the first thing she said was “You don’t
want to talk to me, I’m a Republican.” I replied that I definitely wanted
to talk to her, and after a few minutes, she told me that what bothers her
is that Republicans and Democrats are both so old. I told her that I
agreed, that I find it embarrassing too, and then ten minutes into the
conversation, she said “I actually sometimes vote for Democrats.” That’s a
voter we can try to win—one conventional canvassing models would have had
us skip talking to.
What we found is that the caricatures of people you get, especially from
people in the Washington D.C. area, just do not match the on the ground
reality of what people are like and what their lives are like.
Plus, having a more human, less stilted conversation is way easier and
more fun for volunteers. It’s a not so hidden secret that some of the best
volunteers have already been doing many of these things, often against the
wishes of campaigns, like talking to people who open the door and want to
talk to you, even if they’re not on your list, or knocking on a door with
a yard sign outside that makes it clear that someone who lives there
already supports you.
Ultimately, all of this stuff is just so human and intuitive that people
do it even though campaigns tell them not to, and that’s the point—the
things that feel human and intuitive are the things we should be doing,
because it helps build trust with voters we’re talking to.
How You Can Help
Later this month, on January 24th, we’re kicking off Ground Truth
canvasses in our target districts nationwide. Make sure to be on the
lookout for more emails soon about how you can sign up to canvass or phone
bank in a district near you.
[ [link removed] ]In the meantime, one of the best ways to help is by making a grassroots
donation of $25—or any amount you can—to support this work.
[ [link removed] ]Donate $25 Now
This is a huge undertaking, and Swing Left is hoping to double our budget
this cycle to pull it off. But if there’s anyone that can do it, it’s the
incredible volunteers that make up the Swing Left community. We’ve powered
big wins together before, and now it’s time to put that experience to use
to change the way Democrats do voter contact for the better.
Thank you for reading and hope to see you on the doors!
Zack Malitz
Managing Director, Swing Left
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