Deep canvassing
Deep canvassing is a structured interview that uses long empathic conversations with the intention of shifting participant's beliefs. Though deep canvassing emerged from traditional political canvassing, deep canvassing has been shown to be an effective way to change political beliefs. Deep canvassing has been used by researchers and activists for decades to garner support for political and/or social ideologies. Deep canvassing has been used for years to gain traction for issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community, animal rights, and racial justice.
History
The idea originated in 2012, at the Los Angeles LGBT Center when staffers decided to talk to people who voted against same sex marriage to understand them better.[1] After the tactic was used in a pro-marriage-equality campaign in Minnesota, Steve Deline, Ella Barrett, and David Fleischer enlisted professors David Broockman and Josh Kalla to study the efficacy of the tactic.[1]
With the support of People's Action, deep canvassing was used to engage with voters for the US 2020 presidential election.[1]
Effectiveness
In 2014, a paper by Michael J. LaCour, When contact changes minds, was released showing that longer and 'deeper' conversation can change minds[2] but was retracted the following year for having falsified data.[2][3]
Kalla and Broockman's study, published in 2016, found that ten minute conversations did have an impact on residents’ views of transgender issues.[4]
In 2017, Kalla and Broockman published another study that found brief door-to-door canvassing, had nearly zero effect on voting choices.[5][6] Of their six studies, Kalla and Brookman have found that deep canvassing does have measurable effects.[1]
Deep canvassing has been shown[by whom?] to be effective in person and over the phone.[7][8]
In 2017, Changing the Conversation Together was launched as an organization of concerned citizens building a national corps of deep canvassers. This volunteer based and professionally-led organization helped flip Staten Island in 2018[9] and Pennsylvania in 2020.[10][11]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Kroll, Andy (2020-07-15). "Can Millions of Deep Conversations With Total Strangers Beat Trump -- and Heal America?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
- ^ a b LaCour, Michael J.; Green, Donald P. (2014-12-12). "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality". Science. 346 (6215): 1366–1369. Bibcode:2014Sci...346.1366L. doi:10.1126/science.1256151. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 25504721. S2CID 6322609.
- ^ Resnick, Brian (2016-04-07). "These scientists can prove it's possible to reduce prejudice". Vox. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
- ^ Broockman, David; Kalla, Joshua (2016-04-08). "Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing". Science. 352 (6282): 220–224. Bibcode:2016Sci...352..220B. doi:10.1126/science.aad9713. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 27124458.
- ^ Kalla, Joshua; Broockman, David E. (2017-09-25). "The Minimal Persuasive Effects of Campaign Contact in General Elections: Evidence from 49 Field Experiments". Rochester, NY. SSRN 3042867.
- ^ Matthews, Dylan (2017-09-28). "A massive new study reviews the evidence on whether campaigning works. The answer's bleak". Vox. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
- ^ Resnick, Brian (2020-01-29). "How to talk someone out of bigotry". Vox. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
- ^ Kalla, Joshua L.; Broockman, David E. (May 2020). "Reducing Exclusionary Attitudes through Interpersonal Conversation: Evidence from Three Field Experiments". American Political Science Review. 114 (2): 410–425. doi:10.1017/S0003055419000923. ISSN 0003-0554. S2CID 213591421.
- ^ "NowThisNews".
- ^ Massing, Michael (2020-02-04). "Opinion | To Sway Swing Voters, Try Empathy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
- ^ "The American Prospect Ideas, Politics & Power". NowThis News. Retrieved 2022-04-26.