Turnout among our volunteers has pretty much been driven by preventing another Trump disaster. Even in states that don’t have an abortion-related amendment on the ballot in November, the national conversation about Reproductive Freedom and the Trump threat (even if unacknowledged) and a National Abortion Ban had been driving volunteers to show up everywhere.
Hope Springs volunteers have collected 70,006 verified petitions in Florida from valid voters who lived at the address from which they were registered. We match voter data with the voter database for those who sign the petitions our volunteers circulate before submitting them.
The Top Issue in Florida Saturday was The Economy. Something we’ve been calling Summer Worries was the second most frequently cited Issue. Heat, hurricanes, tourist traffic — that kind of thing. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was the third. Insurance Issues; price increases, dropped coverage, sharp increases in deductibles.
48% of the voters we talked to approved of the job President Biden is doing in Florida. 9% disapproved. 15% approved of the job Rick Scott was doing; 36% disapproved. 17% approved of the job Ron DeSantis is doing; 33% disapproved.
237 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in the Atlanta suburbs and in southern Georgia Blackbelt counties. We knocked on 17,703 doors and talked to 1,416 voters. 5,368 of those voters answered at least some of our questions (mostly through phone followups) on our Issues Survey.
We registered 13 new voters and re-registered 22 voters. 33 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms, and 1 voter filled out an Incident Report.
Economic Uncertainty was the Top Issue last Saturday in Georgia. Jobs was mentioned, so maybe the Jobs Report will help. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was second. Inflation was third.
Biden Approval among the Georgians we talked to was 50% last Saturday. 14% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 34% approved of the Governor, Brian Kemp. 25% disapproved.
137 volunteers came out last Saturday for just our fifth week of canvassing in Maryland. Volunteers knocked on 9,822 doors and talked to 783 voters. 500 answered questions on our Issues Survey. We re-registered 5 voters at their current address in compliance with HAVA. 35 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms.
The Economy and specifically the Availability of (Summer) Jobs was the Number 1 Issue with the voters we talked to. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was second. Infrastructure Needs was third.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 53% last Saturday in Maryland. 9% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 51% approved of Democratic Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks (she finally breaks through 50%). 58% approved of the Governor Moore. 5% disapproved.
124 volunteers came out to knock on doors in Michigan last Saturday in five congressional districts. We knocked on 9,262 doors last Saturday. Volunteers talked to 775 voters. 500 of those voters answered questions to at least part of the Issues Survey. We registered 3 voters and re-registered 16 voters at their current address. 43 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms.
(Rising) Prices and/or Inflation was the Number 1 Issue in Michigan that Saturday. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was second. Instability was third. Voters expressed quite a bit of uncertainty.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 51% last Saturday. 9% disapproved of the president. 58% approved of Governor Whitmer. 6% disapproved.
In the end, we validated or verified the voter status and address of 11,852 voter signatures in Montana.
In Montana, 58 volunteers came out last Saturday. They knocked on 3,984 doors and talked to 350 voters. 225 Issues Surveys were completed. 3 voters were re-registered at their current address. 11 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms.
Hope Springs volunteers have collected 11,852 verified petitions in Montaan from valid voters who lived at the address from which they were registered. We match voter data with the voter database for those who sign the petitions our volunteers circulate before submitting them.
The Top Issue in Montana Saturday was The Economy. Concern about Future Mortgage/ Loan Rates was the second most frequently cited Issue.
46% of the voters we talked to approved of the job President Biden is doing in Montana. 21% disapproved. 66% approved of the job Jon Tester was doing; 5% disapproved. 22% approved of the job the Governor, Greg Gianforte is doing; 36% disapproved.
In Nevada, canvassing in Las Vegas was cancelled because of extreme weather concerns. 55 volunteers came out to canvass in the Reno suburbs. We knocked on 3,943 doors and talked to 322 voters. 206 answered questions on our Issues Survey. We re-registered 2 voters, updating their current address. 25 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms.
The Economy was the Number 1 issue voters talked about last weekend. Summer Worries was second. Even in Reno (at a higher altitude), voters are concerned about Climate Change and the heating of the planet. Reproductive Freedom or Rights was third.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 46% last Saturday. 15% disapproved of the president. 57% approved of their Senator, Jacky Rosen. Rosen is definitely in for a fight, not because she has a competitive opponent, but because the political environment in Nevada is tumultuous right now. 6% disapproved. 23% approved of the Governor, Joe Lombard. 32% disapproved.
198 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in North Carolina in NC-01, NC-07, NC-09 and NC-13. We knocked on 14,790 doors and talked to 1,237 voters. 788 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 11 new voters and re-registered 17 voters. 19 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms.
(Rising) Prices and/or Inflation was the Top Issue in North Carolina on Saturday. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was second. Crime was third.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 45% last Saturday. 11% disapproved of the president. 52% approved of the Governor, Roy Cooper. 9% disapproved.
188 volunteers showed up last Saturday in Ohio to knock on doors in the competitive OH-01, OH-09 and OH-13 Congressional Districts. They knocked on 14,043 doors on Saturday. Hope Springs volunteers talked to 1,244 voters, and 781 voters answered questions from at least part of the Issues Survey.
We registered 1 new voter and re-registered 6 voters, updating their current address. 311 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms.
The Economy was the Number 1 issue for the Ohioans we talked to on Saturday. Housing Concerns and Insurance (Price) Increases was second. Extremism was third.
Biden’s Job Approval was at 48%; 19% expressed some measure of Disapproval. 59% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Sen. Brown was doing while 7% expressed Disapproval. 28% of the voters we talked to thought Gov. DeWine was doing a good job, 34% said they disapproved of the job he was doing.
142 volunteers showed up to knock on doors in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions last Saturday. They knocked on 10,323 doors and talked to 839 voters. 537 voters completed questions on our Issues Survey, at least in part.
We registered 1 new voter and re-registered 4 voters, updating their current address. 263 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms and 2 voters filled out Incident Reports.
The Economy was the Top Issue last Saturday in Pennsylvania. Housing Concerns and Insurance (Price) Increases was second. Concerns about the fragility of the Political System was third. That’s a new one.
Biden’s Job Approval was at 46% (a 12 point drop); 10% expressed some measure of Disapproval. 61% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Sen. Casey was doing while 8% said they Disapproved. 56% of the voters we talked to thought Gov. Shapiro was doing a good job, 8% said they disapproved of the job he was doing.
231 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in Texas. Again, heat was a factor is some of the areas where we were knocking on doors (and we expect that to be true today). We knocked on 17,024 doors and talked to 1,290 voters. 5,687 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey (mostly through phone follow-ups after we had knocked on their doors).
We registered 9 new voters and re-registered 25 voters. These were mostly in African-American neighborhoods, where two Divine Nine groups (and a couple of Black Church members) canvassed. 27 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. 3 voters filled out Incident Reports.
Economic Uncertainty was the Top Issue in Texas last weekend. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was second and Immigration and Border Security was third. We were told that there are Trump-related ads on Black-related media pushing the meme that Undocumented people are taking jobs away from African-Americans.
Biden Approval among the Texans we talked to was 44% last Saturday. 17% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 15% of the voters voiced approval of Ted Cruz; 31% disapproved. We have also been asking about job approval of Colin Allred, the Democrat running against Ted Cruz. 46% of the voters we talked to approved of the job he’s been doing. 17% approved of the Governor, Greg Abbot. 35% disapproved.
125 volunteers came out to canvass in Wisconsin in Milwaukee (where we are canvassing in African-American wards) and its suburbs (the WOW counties), as well as Kenosha, Racine and Dane counties. Hope Springs volunteers knocked on 9,350 doors and talked to 830 voters. 545 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
We re-registered 7 voters, updating their current address. 32 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms.
The Economy was the Top Concern among the Wisconsin voters we talked to Saturday. Housing Availability, Costs and Housing Insurance Costs was the second most frequently cited concern. Concern over Political Violence, not necessarily related to the Election, was third.
Biden’s Approval numbers in Wisconsin was 48% last Saturday. His Disapproval number was 13%. Senator Baldwin’s Job Approval was 61% with 6% of the voters we talked to on Saturday expressing Disapproval. Approval of Governor Evers, meanwhile, was 51%; Disapproval was 9% last Saturday.
I do want to repeat that if you are interested in participating in our Postcards to New Voters Project, you can sign up here. (The diary on this can be found here.) We especially need help this year since we are not limiting our Postcards to New Voters effort to those new voters that Hope Springs or its partners registered to vote. Basically, every new voter in the swing Congressional Districts in our Swing States will be included in this effort for 2024.
And if you are able to support this kind of intensive grassroots organizing and voter contact, we would certainly appreciate your financial support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
We canvass with an Issues Survey that is our jumping off point of conversations with voters. We find this is an easy way to begin the canvass season. All the data we collect will be entered into VAN, the Democratic database.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters. 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. We also ask voters if they have an problems that local, state or federal governments need to address in their neighborhoods.
But the main focus of our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. We find that most voters who aren’t in a hurry or in the middle of something are willing to answer at least a couple of these questions, especially their top issue or concern and their views of President Biden. 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.
Hope Springs from Field has a hybrid approach. We aren’t interested in competing with regular campaign field organizing. We are in the field before they get there and then move on when the Democratic campaigns start their own intensive field work. Indeed, when we wind up the typical field work by Labor Day, we will encourage all the volunteers working with us to move over to the Senate campaigns in their states (and hope that our field organizers will be hired on by those campaigns). After Labor Day, we will begin organizing our Election Protection Project.
We also ask voters if they have any concerns about the upcoming elections. Last year, we walked with lit about the changes in voting laws, but we also asked voters about their fears and experience in prior elections. So far there haven’t been significant changes in the laws but we still ask about fears and experience vis-a-vis elections. Voters who say they have experience voter intimidation or other problems with voting are asked to fill out Incident Reports.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year (specifically those where a Republican won a Congressional District that voted for Biden in 2022). There is a lot of work to be done! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine Republican efforts to throw Democrats off the voter rolls, informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them. There’s a lot of work to be done, but fortunately, the three states that are making it most difficult are also states in which you can knock on doors at least 10 months out of the year. And, with your help, we will be there, getting our people to super-comply with these restrictive provisions.
Our biggest expense is the Voter File. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing literature is our second largest cost. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
But here’s the reality: Identifying Single Issue Voters and Constitutional Amendment supporters and doing GOTV (Get-Out-the-Vote) costs us more money than our regular canvassing because this issue drives volunteer turnout higher and higher and we reach more voters. Which means we have to buy more lit to distribute and other minor expenses (like water for volunteers). We are starting earlier, and staying in the field longer, for this election year. So please:
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the ActBlue page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!