Candidates, voters weigh in on the fine art of door-to-door election campaigning

Linda Justason says she hasn’t had anyone knock on the door of her Florenceville home during this New Brunswick election so far, but if someone did, it just might influence her vote.

“Then I’d have the opportunity to ask them the questions that I would like to ask that they haven’t answered yet,” she said.

But door-knocking by election candidates or their campaign workers can only go so far in influencing someone’s vote, according to Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University.

“Lots of research says that most voters vote based on the leader and the party, and so the local candidate matters a lot less,” he said.

“People are socialized into voting for a party regardless of who the candidate is.”

That doesn’t mean door knocking isn’t important, said Marland. 

While going door to door during campaigns was hugely popular in the late 20th century, as more and more attention was paid to leaders and related news coverage it started to be perceived as a “meaningless ritual.”

WATCH | CBC News asked some potential voters if door-knocking has an influence:

‘Can I count on your vote in this upcoming election?’

Candidates going door-to-door during an election campaign is a longstanding tradition, but does it actually work to persuade people to vote one way or another?

Now the practice is enjoying a renaissance, he said.

“It’s more than just getting election signs,” he said. “It’s about trying to find a competitive edge.… Knocking door to door used to all be done on clipboards, but instead, now people are able to use tablets and their phones, and information can go … into a database.

“Then you can use that for robo-calling, you can use that for email blasts, you can use that for texting. And so it really fits into a lot of the persuasion and mobilization of a campaign.”

With a provincial election coming up on Oct. 21 in New Brunswick, the longstanding tradition of door-knocking has been ongoing across the province for the last few weeks. 

For voter Troy Spilman, who lives in the Fredericton area, the candidate matters more than the party.

Door-knocking might influence his vote, he said, “if the person was actually an individual and knocked on my door and had a real conversation and made it believable and didn’t give me a bunch of cliches.”

Kris Austin, the PC candidate in Fredericton-Grand Lake, said for him, it’s a way to get a direct message across with no filters, while also hearing from voters directly about what issues matter to them.

Generational perceptions

But is door-knocking received the same way by the youngest voters as it is by Generation X and Baby Boomers?

Astyr Johnson, a first-time New Brunswick voter, said if a politician took the time to come to his door during an election, it might have an impact on his vote.

“As a student who doesn’t really have a lot of time to just sit down and actually research into what each party is trying to enact or to develop with this election, it’s pretty helpful to kind of get that right in front of you,” they said.

But Johnson said that method might not work for every 18-year-old or Generation Z voter because there isn’t a “cut or paste,” one-size-fits-all method.

Austin said there is no question there are different ways to connect with different generations. The most important thing is to “make yourself accessible,” he said.

“The younger demographic … some of them are fine with a, you know, Facebook message or a tweet, or, you know, maybe a direct text message of back and forth sort of thing.

“But what’s not different is people do want to hear from their candidates. They want to hear what they think and what they plan on doing going forward.”

Liberal Leader Susan Holt also said door-knocking is an important part of campaigning because it allows candidates to connect with people outside their own network and can help remind them of what really matters to New Brunswickers.

As for the generational divide, Holt said it is harder to get young people at the door, partly because it is more difficult for candidates to access apartment buildings.

“It’s easier to knock on the doors of a single-family home, and those are harder and harder for young people to afford,” she said.  

First-time Liberal candidate Tanya Whitney said she’s been enjoying door-knocking and finds it interesting trying to figure out generational differences. 

She has noticed some younger people tend to be more frustrated with the overall system of governance, she said. 

“So if we’re able to stay in conversation, we can dig through that a little bit,” said Whitney.

Amanda Munday, the executive director of a non-partisan young voters organization called New Majority, said their organization has been surveying New Brunswick voters to get an idea of what’s important to them.

Any engagement is good in trying to reach young people, they said, but young people may be more reluctant to answer their doors for an unannounced visitor or answer a phone call with an unknown number. 

From watching tactics in the United States, Munday said relational organizing may be an effective way to reach the younger demographic. That involves non-partisan organizations like New Majority paying young people to reach out to their friends and encourage them to vote.

“It’s really not about persuading somebody on how they should vote,” they said. “It is about ensuring that more people turn up at all.”

Marland said there isn’t much research on whether people, no matter the age, will actually vote for a candidate canvassing their neighbourhood, even if they say the interaction has changed their mind.

Historically, he said, younger people have been less likely to vote than older generations, partly because their community roots aren’t yet as deep.

“On election day, it’s irrelevant how old people are,” he added. “Nobody’s thinking like that. Everyone’s just thinking contact every possible identified supporter and encourage them to get to the polls.”