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Why Men Care about Abortion, and other tales from Grassroots Volunteers Knocking on Doors this year [1]

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Date: 2023-10-22  

Last weekend, i wrote about a voter who i had canvassed the day before in Virginia. He asked me a question that stuck with me (which is why i wrote about it), “I got a bunch of flyers about abortion and crime, but this is a safe neighborhood. Why should I even vote? I’m a man, YOU’RE a man! Why should we care about abortion?”

Here’s the thing, the voter had correctly identified the parameters of the current debate here in Virginia. Democrats are basing their campaigns of Reproductive Freedom and Republicans are pushing the crime narrative — even when they are running against prosecutors. The terms of the debate has become quite small, and voters interested in other issues — specifically, local issues, like that voter, who was asking about casting a vote for a local legislator — might wonder if their vote will further their interests.

But that’s the way it has always been with wedge issues. Both sides are focusing on narrow issues in order to pull voters away from their natural inclinations. Crime has long been a wedge issue that Republicans have used to cleave voters away from Democrats. Here in Virginia, though, bringing out the old crime narrative seems desperate. “This is a safe neighborhood,” that voter told me, revealing how little the crime pitch meant to him. But wedge issues are intended to be visceral issues, messages that provoke a knee-jerk reaction.

Which is exactly what i saw in some of the comments to last week’s diary. It was actually testimony to the power of wedge issues (like abortion).

I’ve been organizing, leading and training campaign canvassers for decades, on federal, state and even local campaigns. One of the reasons why Obama alums brought the Hope Springs from Field concept to me was because i had vast experience in creating grassroots organizations in new areas, both in presidential cycles and midterm cycles. I have often compared this initial period of organizing to a tech start-up, with the note that campaign “start-ups” have end or termination dates (tech start-ups don’t usually have a winding down period, like political campaigns do).

But one aspect of my staffing or consulting on campaigns, presidential, senate or otherwise, is that i have continued to knock on doors, talk to voters and volunteers, because i believe that is how campaigns are won. I am about to attend the Obama alum “reunion” (15 years, baby!) and i fully expect to hear the same thing i heard back then, “you are still knocking on doors???” I could bore you with why, but you didn’t ask.

While women do make up the majority of volunteers we have come out each week, it’s not an overwhelming majority. Maybe 60-40, although i can’t say for sure. Diversity is our strength.

Part of my practice, which reaches back decades (long before Obama brought me up to Illinois from Florida), has been to call 10 voters, 10 volunteers and 10 organizers each week to check up on our progress. Each segment has a different reason (eg, i call voters to confirm that someone knocked on their door — it’s amazing how this simple practice curtails false reporting!), but it works as a permanent kind of feedback loop. These two-way conversations (i have never reached all 30 people i had on my call list) serve as a means for understanding what we were doing right, what we needed to change and what we were learning each week.

So i wasn’t surprised by the torrent of comments that diary received. I think some commenters just read the headline and reacted to that. But this is why visceral issues work as wedge issues. People — those who are interested in that subject — have an immediate reaction to it, they don’t need more information to know where they stand. So my Northern Virginia voter, 30-40 miles outside of the capitol, should have known better when he wondered why his (local) issues weren’t being addressed.

And, i admit it, i couldn’t resist investigating the various comments on why men didn’t care about abortion. Because Hope Springs from Field has quite a few male volunteers out there knocking on doors each week in elections where the campaigns are relying on a single wedge issue (abortion) to propel Democrats to victory. So i made it my mission this week to *talk* to 10 male volunteers who were pretty devoted volunteers (had knocked on doors at least 3 times with us this year) and ask them about why they continued to spend their Saturdays listening to voters. I ended up reach 6 men in Ohio, 2 men in Virginia and 2 in Pennsylvania. 7 of them i had never talked to before. Realize, we have an average of 2,000-2,500 volunteers out each week and i only make 10 calls to volunteers each week. I’m actually amazed i had talked to 3 of them before, as i write that.

“I never thought about it,” was definitely the most frequent response to why they were out knocking when abortion was the primary issue driving this (November) election in their state.

“I’m (We’re) Democrats,” was second.

One volunteer told me, “there’s a lot of things that Democrats support that I agree with — and probably a couple of things Democrats support that I don’t. But, gawd, Trump. I mean it’s just all too much.” Trump is definitely the ultimate wedge issue.

Another volunteer said, “You (Hope Springs) asked. It’s as simple as that.” Then he told me how much he got out of it, how good it made him feel, and that he never expected that. “Most of all, I feel prepared every time I knock on a door.” I had to admit to this volunteer that every year — every single year — i get butterflies before talking to my first few voters. And we are talking decades here. You would think not, but…

“I don’t think about it,” another volunteer told me. “This system (thank you for understanding that this is a system, i thought) makes it so simple to engage with whoever opens the door. When I am talking to a voter, I am not thinking about my views, but how to collect and record the essence of their views,” He concluded, “I just never thought about it.”

“It’s kinda their turn, isn’t it?” one volunteer said, perhaps trying to turn the table on me. “We have asked a lot from women to elect Democrats to office. They have a right to expect our support.” Then he added, “And our help.”

“It’s not either-or for me. I am not out here to force my views down another person’s throat,” another volunteer told me. “I’m actually surprised/impressed (didn’t record the word he used) by the range of responses to the Top Issue question. I am never surprised when a woman says that she’s an abortion voter, but there are men who admit to it, too. Not many, but more than one.” This tells us that he’s been with us for awhile, as most volunteers don’t talk to more than 8 voters a week.

I asked him if he knew why, and he responded: “we never ask. When you first start out, you think, wow, this is a lot to deal with. I really like the fact they (their organizer/trainer) told us to show the clipboard to the voter so they could see what we were going to ask.”

But he admitted that he raced through the Issue Survey so he could tell them about the Constituent Service Request forms. “That’s really why I keep coming back. No offense.”

I didn’t really get an answer. Not sure i expected an answer. None of the volunteers seemed to feel like their issues were neglected. That’s the thing about governing coalitions, they are actually trying to govern. And that’s something that really separated the Ohio responses from the Virginia and Pennsylvania responses. In the latter states, they have an expectation of a governing coalition. Ohio volunteers understood that we needed to pass Issue 1 because Democrats aren’t part of government, that Republicans will just keep turning the screw, squeezing out the last breathe of democracy there. They have to pass a constitutional amendment just to protect their rights — the rights of every Ohioan. It wasn’t about abortion, per se. It was about the right to chose for themselves. Whatever the issue. We are all connected.

Here’s the thing: while women are a notable majority of the volunteers who come out and knock on doors each week, they are unquestionably an overwhelming majority of those volunteers who take their walk lists home and continue to make calls on those voters who did not open their doors each week. And this is a huge part of our GOTV (get-out-the-vote) effort right now. They are the ones who are dedicated to winning.

The last thing i want to say, in this regard, is for those volunteers out there now, who are engaged in GOTV, is — at this point — you have to just trust the campaign. It’s too late to change the course of the political debate (or environment) now, and we have to hope that the campaigns have done their homework and they have a message arc that leads to “elect Democrats now!” “Can we count on your vote?”

Hope Springs from Field PAC continues to knock on doors in suburban Ohio for GOTV for Issue 1 and Pennsylvania for Deborah Kunselman. We relinquished the field here in Virginia because there is a organized campaign infrastructure targeted towards the key (or swing) senate and general assembly districts.

Hope Springs relies 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/hope4ohio

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. If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address, as well. Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/22/2200919/-Why-Men-Care-about-Abortion-and-other-tales-from-Grassroots-Volunteers-Knocking-on-Doors-this-year?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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