More often than not, it seems, what we hear at voter’s doors is dramatically different than what you see online. It’s one of the biggest reasons why i always tell people they should knock on doors to understand the electorate. Let’s face it, even if the country seems to be moving against diversity of opinion, there is no lack of diversity of opinion among Democrats and unaffiliated voters. Not even a little bit.
Hope Springs from Field PAC [dated website] volunteers have been knocking on doors nationwide for 3 weekends now (and in FL-06 since the first weekend of February) and have collected more than 5,000 Issues Surveys. Admittedly, we have a higher percentage of questionnaires from Florida since we’ve been canvassing there a month longer. But that just makes these findings more remarkable.
Clik here to view.
As you can see, volunteers ask a number of open-ended questions, and we are looking for immediate feedback. We ask volunteers to tell voters who pause at a question that, “it’s not a test, we can move on.” I’ve spent more than 40 minutes with a voter this year who had a lot to say, so we don’t exactly encourage voters to think a long time about how to answer a question. We want visceral responses because they are the kinds of things that will stick with voters and be part of their considerations on how to vote.
It is also important to note that these responses are entered into VAN, the shared Democratic voter database and made available to Democratic candidates after the primaries are concluded.
Looking over the results we’ve collected so far there are 3 basic questions where voters we’ve talked to this year are weighing in about Democrats and our leadership in Congress: Q6 (“If you could send one message to your Member of Congress, what would it be?”), Q8 (“Do You have any concerns about the upcoming elections?”) and Q9 (“Anything else to add”) — the latter being the most popular in this regard.
The most common response in this particular context is that Democrats should “fight, fight, fight.” You might not have expected Democratic voters to adopt the verbage of President Felon, but they have (among the voters we have talked to): 231 voters have used they specific term(s) in reply. No other comment comes close here. And that doesn’t include the question (why aren’t Democrats fighting back?), or declaration (Democrats should be fighting back!) or any other variation of the word fight. If you include all the variations of fight, 816 voters in Senate Swing States and/or Congressional District we have talked to this year have brought it up.
Things voters say.
It’s almost like they are sending us a message. And it isn’t just registered Democrats. We are hearing this from unaffiliated voters, as well.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors nationwide again on March 1st (we add states as weather permits). We target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans. The voters we talk to continue to tell us they come away more invested in governance and feel more favorably towards Democrats in general because of our approach.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
Here’s the thing: these comments are unprompted. Which is why it is so surprising to me. I’ve used Issues Surveys for decades now and this was the first time i can remember where there was such a uniformity in response. One voter asked, “There’s still fight left in us, isn’t there?” One voter wrote, “Don’t give up” in their “message to their Congress person” (Q6), and they weren’t the only one. Hard not to read that as a plea of almost desperation.
But it is in this context that we hear voter appreciation for Hope Springs volunteers being out there. More than once, volunteers have written down that a voter told them (paraphrasing) that their presence at their doors gave them (more?) hope. Which, to be honest, i might have completely missed had a volunteer not reminded me that she always tells them, “that’s in the name” (Hope Springs from Field).
Believe it or not, usually, when we are canvassing during times that the budget or debt ceiling debate is occurring, voters are more interested in compromise than conflict. And this is not to say they won’t return to this in the future; it’s just not the environment we are in right now. There is a confluence between the natural positions of activists and voters right now.
One more thing — kind of important — that voters are telling us: their interest in seeing Democrats fight back in Congress is not equaled by a promise to vote Democratic next year. “Depends on what they do,” voters have told us. I mention this because the generic ballot isn’t in Blue Wave territory right now. And voters don’t understand the distinction between the House and the Senate here. They are paying attention, but not that closely.
I mentioned a 40-odd minute conversation with a Democratic voter in Florida, and the anger they felt towards Democrats at “wussing out” with Trump was clear. “I want to vote for Democrats, really, I do, but what is the point if they are just going to give in?” Initially, i took this as a criticism of Josh Weil, but now i think it is much more broad and it just affects Josh Weil.
Another voter this weekend explained her observation of the difference (in her words) between those activists protesting Tesla in Duval and those volunteers knocking on doors in the counties below: “I can see how speaking out against Musk is satisfying to those who take part. But what you are doing is reinforcing (word i wrote down, not necessarily the word she used) to us voters. You make me feel like I’m not alone.”
And she isn’t alone. We are here, we are in the trenches, building the foundation for 2026. It feels good when voters remind us of that.
(Perhaps unrelated. but good, strong messaging: one voter called it the Trump-Musk administration.)
Hope Springs from Field volunteers knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters and use a voter-driven approach to guide them through the Issues Survey, the CSR and Incident Report. We record questions voters raise with a Q(uestion)-slip and record other relevant observations on an Observations form. Q-slips are sent to the relevant Democrat to respond to and Observations are entered into VAN. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
If you are able to support Hope Springs from Field’s efforts to turn out the vote here, protect Democratic voters, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection,
we would appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!