Theres no difference regarding who you can speak with in a deep canvass. ", Williams says around the time she began volunteering with the LGBT Center, she canvassed a man who didn't support nondiscrimination protection for transgender children. Fanned out across the neighborhood were more than three dozen Leadership Lab volunteers, many of them local college students, as well as progressive activists from around the country hoping to learn about changing voters minds. The distinguishing feature of a deep canvass is you take a lot more time to talk to voters and have a bona fide two-way conversation about real experiences that shape their thinking about the issues. Volunteers went to the other half and started the conversations that Fleischer thinks can help change minds. Nancy laughed. They are supposed to appear genuinely interested in hearing the subject ruminate on the question, as Broockman and Kallas latest study instructions read. Are Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney in love, or are they good actors? Still, Fleischer isnt ready to give up. Were just beginning to learn how to do this well, but its important. The lessons from deep canvassing are that when youre trying to talk to people that may disagree with you and change minds, you have to work as a team. But after shooing the dog into another room, Nancy appeared in her doorway again. During a 2013 trip to New York City, he visited the Columbia University political-science professor Donald Green, whose experiments on voter behavior including his findings that canvassing is a more effective mobilization tool than telephone calls or direct mail partly inspired a focus on building a ground game, a strategy mastered by the Obama campaign. If he had his way, Fleischer would knock on doors with a golf ball. And in that moment, he points out that a transgender nondiscrimination law would help people who feel discriminated against at school or work. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Matthew Rodriguez Matthew is an organizer from El Paso who believes the only way we fight against the systems of oppression is by building collective power. With a deep canvass, we want to figure out whats relevant to voters. Deep canvassing, a relatively new technique, []. Theres plenty of work that offers some possible mechanisms by which opinions change. "There's something special about caring about why [people] feel the way they do. Dave Fleischer a short, bald, gay, Jewish 61-year-old with bulging biceps and a distaste for prejudice knocked on the front door of a modest home in a middle-class neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. I know it exists, and I hear stories, and I see them on TV. But why? Some folks may have a crucifix on the door. Across the street, a man in his late 30s who said he was liberal and pro-L.G.B.T.-rights moved to a five from an eight, explaining that he was deeply worried about the bathroom issue. The mans concern seemed informed by his experience in a New York City nightclub; he hinted at his discomfort standing at a urinal next to a drag queen. Though Fleischer thought his new approach was working, he wanted to know whether the persuasion lasted. Even as Trump was talking about the caravan, we see that Republicans in our study are moving.. Had it all been wishful thinking? Its only right. In it, canvassers in three areas central Tennessee; Fresno, California; and Orange County, California went door to door and interacted with 2,374 voters in these communities during the runup to the 2018 midterm elections. Its of a real voter and a canvasser from the Leadership Lab, a program of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which spearheaded this canvassing method after losing the 2008 Proposition 8 ballot initiative in California. Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense, she says. The payoffs are small and incremental, but they are real. Its worth noting that some of the results were less strong than those Broockman and Kalla reported in their 2016 paper. In a deep canvass, we go to the turf where voters have voted against our causes in the past, and we find out why. Over a 2-hour shift, our volunteers will complete an average of 5 conversations. But research shows that the impact of our deep canvass conversations can last nine months or longer. Volunteers will be responsible for localizing the script they wish to use. Broockman and Kalla published the results in Science on Thursday. "Our ability to change voters' hearts and minds has been measured, this time for real," Fleischer said, contrasting the intensely reviewed work of Broockman and Kalla to the earlier, retracted paper. Sharing narratives gets around that: The persuasion happens because in talking about themselves, the voters realize a more tolerant attitude is consistent with their self-image. Her second conversation, she said, was with a black man in his 50s who was a seven on the 10-point scale. Were asking voters not to discriminate, to be less prejudiced, and we need to walk that walk, she said. Our team is made up ofamazing creative, organizational, and political consulting talent committed to achieving political and advocacy goals. Thats likely a lot of people. Beginning in 2014, the Leadership Lab teamed up with Planned Parenthood to canvass in support of pro-choice policies. At Peoples Action, he helped build and execute a groundbreaking immigration Deep Canvass experiment in the fall of 2019 that targeted rural voters and persuaded them on pro-immigrant perspectives. Both types of canvassers could instigate change. In the face of this defeat, the Leadership LAB was established at the LA LGBT Center to embark on a radical project - knocking on voters' doors to learn why and make a case for love. In 2008, he was in Ohio mobilizing African-American and Latino voters for Barack Obama when California residents passed Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage in the state. You dont know if theyre at McDonalds on their iPhone, and you cant always be sure what theyre saying to voters. For many voters, they reflect on it and they realize that's a terrible feeling they don't want anyone to have," Broockman says. It usually isnt until Fleischer opens up about his own experience including feeling different in his small, conservative Ohio town that voters feel safe to get vulnerable, too, he says. In 2020, these seem like radical propositions. That also worked. I think people dont talk enough about the focus on persuasion we had, because the story line became, Oh, they won because turnout was so high.. Ella then managed the Leadership LAB project at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, where a team of more than 1,000 volunteers and staff collaborated to innovate new methods of voter persuasion and prejudice reduction and apply them on the ground to help win LGBT rights campaigns across the country. Deep canvassing, it appears from the research, has an effect that can last for several months. He also admitted to lying about having received funds for his study from several organizations, including the Ford Foundation. Right, because otherwise you have the biggest secret in the world, and everyone thinks something about you thats not true, Fleischer said, before pivoting to a story about Jacksons being demeaned by a waiter in a restaurant. I know Im in favor of gays, because Ive worked with them and socialized with them, she said. "We found non-trans allies had a lasting effect as well," Broockman says. When the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in 2015, Fleischer and his team could turn their focus to the next L.G.B.T. battlefield: transgender rights. Its a real heart-to-heart between strangers. But many times this approach underestimates whos persuadable. The impact of television ads, in particular, can fade in just a week. This kind of conversation helps me talk to family members who arent totally there yet on accepting their identity, Topping says. It also takes time to get a canvass up and running and for volunteers or paid staff to get good at delivering. Going door to door, a Los Angeles-based activist group tries to reduce prejudice against transgender people. "Burning the mental calories to do effortful thinking about it, that leaves a lasting imprint on your attitudes," he says. Both were on display during many of the canvass conversations I observed, including the one with Nancy, the woman who moved to a five from a 10 after watching the opposition video. He called everyone involved with the work and every reporter who had covered the study. That doesn't mean everybody came away feeling more positive about transgender rights. The technique might be used to target any societal prejudice or be used to increase prejudice, Broockman acknowledges. She ended a solid 10, a rating he was confident could survive opposition messaging. There were days it was just hard to face that and everything that I was going through with my transition at the time. The effects of most efforts to change peoples minds on an issue, if successful at all, tend to fade over time. One group aired a lurid television ad of a man following a frightened, wide-eyed young girl into a bathroom stall. So why dont more campaigns for candidates and issues canvass? Over the last six years, Fleischers unorthodox canvassing technique has attracted the attention of social scientists, liberal groups and even presidential-campaign consultants. If they met a voter who wanted to get rid of the law, they wouldnt call them out for prejudice. Knocking on a strangers door is scary, and a lot of that mornings training session was spent boosting the confidence of first-time canvassers. It likely wasnt because someone berated you. Massachusetts voters could choose to keep or throw out a law that banned discrimination based on gender identity. ), Emile Bruneau, a neuroscientist who studies intergroup conflict at the University of Pennsylvania and was not involved in the canvassing experiments, tells me in an email it is so promising to see an intervention, any intervention, that has a lasting effect on big social issues.. Peer-to-peer texting is another vehicle (though virtually untested for turn out effect) for personal back and forth conversations. His deep canvassing career and vision took off in rural North Carolina, where hehelped change hearts and minds in our groundbreaking immigration deep canvass with Down Home North Carolina. David directs the Leadership Lab at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. "It was a really ingenious test of the change. Fleischers team videotapes many of its conversations with voters, then analyzes the tape like a football team might so we can figure out whats working and whats not, explained a field organizer, Steve Deline. In his work, Bruneau finds that political partisans have a skewed view of how they think their opponents think of them. Its not about calling people out or labeling them fill-in-the-blank-phobic. In 2012, Steve embedded with the Minnesotans United marriage equality campaign, which mobilized over 14,000 LGBTQ and ally volunteers to have more than 220,000 deep canvass conversations on the phones, contributing to a first-ever ballot box victory that many thought impossible. The study made international news and seemed to confirm what many gays and lesbians believed in their guts: that knowing a gay person is a powerful antidote to anti-gay bias. Jackson grew up as a girl, but he knew even when he was 5 or 6 that he was really a boy. Not every campaign can afford to run canvasses. But remember, the impact of these conversations can last nine months or more. Though there is scant research on transgender prejudice, what is known suggests transgender people face widespread prejudice and discrimination, Aaron Norton and Gregory Herek wrote in their 2012 study of heterosexual attitudes toward transgender Americans. Its not easy to confront people whose votes would seek to hurt you, and then try to change their minds. Have a Conversation, academic study referenced by the New York Times that was published by political scientists David Broockman and Josh Kalla, http://www.vox.com/2014/11/13/7214339/campaign-ground-game. Possibly. And now, a new peer-reviewed study a series of three placebo-controlled field experiments soon to be published in American Political Science Review replicates the findings and gives us new insights into the conditions for lasting opinion change and reductions in prejudice. This toolkit is full of useful links to materials they have developed and shared including Climate Action Scripts online and in person, Script Iteration Examples and lots of training resources. The canvasser shares vulnerably about their own life and asks curious questions to create mutual understanding grounded in lived experience. That means canvassing is much more about conversational skill rather than identity. Maybe, as The Wall Street Journal suggested, Fleischers efforts merely flattered the ideological sensibilities of liberals. But this week, a new study published in Science by David Broockman, an assistant professor of political economy at Stanford, and Joshua Kalla, a graduate student in political science at Berkeley, appears to serve as vindication of Fleischers work. Do you have a few minutes today to talk about transgender people?, Williams played a busy voter. But for transgenders? It includes those who immediately shut the door in the canvassers face. Theres still a script, but its designed to help the canvasser build a good rapport with a voter. issues, he believes this kind of canvassing could change peoples thinking on everything from abortion and gun rights to race-based prejudice. Give me a five., Nancy wasnt the only person to significantly decrease her support after watching the video. If the effect persists, Broockman says, the technique could be used to reduce prejudice across society. Volunteers also encouraged people to talk about anyone they were close to who had an abortion. Prejudices are often deep, obstinate beliefs. Why is deep canvassing relevant to the world we live in today? Fleischer headed west to work with the Los Angeles L.G.B.T. Whats the coolest thing about this method of canvassing? Dave Fleischer, director of the Leadership Lab. Studies on deep canvassing suggest a conversion rate of 10%. That lack of control scares campaigns. Susmik now works on Peoples Actions National Field Team, supporting deep canvassing and movement politics work. Toward the end of the conversation, the canvasser nudges the voter into thinking about how that experience can relate to the plight of transgender people. He ran a phone program in the 2020 general election that canvassed over 15,000 people in battleground states, and also led the deep-canvassing phones program in support of the Minneapolis public safety charter amendment in 2021. Copyright 2021 by People's Action Institute and the New Conversation Institute. They dont say if they are pleased or hurt by the response. He and several collaborators struggled for years to get to this point. Deep Canvassing Workshop 2022 Medicare for All Strategy Conference, HealthCareNow, 2022 (see example from 48:40 mins), Peoples Action Institute Deep Canvass Script, 2020, Peoples Action Institute (Report see pgs 8-9), Insights from Deep Canvassing: Proven Scripts for Transformational Outreach, The New Conversation Initiative, Netroots Nation, 2022 (Video), How We Can Reduce Prejudice with a Conversation, David Fleischer , TEDxMidAtlantic, 2017 (Video 16:51 mins), Unpacking Deep Canvassing, Indivisible, 2022 (Video See marriage equality example at 5:42 mins), Deep Canvassing: Changing Voters Minds Through Conversation, Leading Change Network, 2018 (Video 1:32:42 mins). After the canvassing, 29 percent of the people in the placebo condition said they strongly supported policies inclusive of undocumented immigrants. In Maine, using deep conversation to reach voters, NPR, 2021 (Podcast 4 minutes), Deep Canvassing Toolkit, Neighbours United, 2022 (5 pg PDF). Grassroots, Were a 10! But I dont have any friends like I do my gay friends., Fleischer nodded and removed a picture of his friend Jackson from his wallet. LaCour's misconduct only made them more determined to do the study for real. "We had a certain sense of responsibility.". Deep canvassing has become a buzzword in relational organizing - and it all started at the Leadership LAB during the fight for marriage equality in California in 2008. Heres a 2015 video example of deep canvassing. Broockman and Kalla were intrigued by LaCours findings and hoped to replicate it for an experiment measuring the Leadership Labs transgender canvassing. Script structure used to guide SURJ-NYC deep canvassing conversations on reparations, A Qualitative Examination of Dialogical Elements in Anti-Racist Deep Canvassing Conversations, 2021 (Journal article see fig. Insights from Deep Canvassing: Proven Scripts for Transformational Outreach, The New Conversation Initiative, Netroots Nation, 2021 (Video 60 mins). Door to Door, Though there was currently no ballot measure in Los Angeles to worry about, there was a palpable urgency to the Leadership Labs work. Its much easier to put all your volunteers in a cozy phone bank where everyone gets to hang out and eat pizza.. That's why we keep our work free. He responds by telling his story of being discriminated against for being gay. Dont try to change someones mind alone. While a discussion of transgender rights can trigger deeply ingrained feelings about sex and gender roles, the issue is also a fairly recent political consideration for many people. How Do You Change Voters Minds? The study's conclusions differ from the conclusions of the LaCour's falsified study from 2014 in one crucial way, Broockman says. As Fleischer returned to the discrimination she had faced, Nancy paused and said, It felt terrible. A few minutes later, when he asked her if she saw a connection between your experience and how you want to treat transgender people, she said she did. Dave Fleischer, director of the Leadership Lab.CreditDamon Casarez for The New York Times. Why Should My Campaign Consider Using Union Printers? Tennessee and the Central Valley have been the sites of large-scale workplace raids by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in recent years, she says, and various cities in Orange County have attempted to opt out of the California Values Act. Thats a state law that limits the collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. He was thinking as if trans kids don't have all the other things kids have to deal with on top of being transgender," Williams says. For example, KED wont support Republicans or, potentially, certain Democrats facing primary challenges. For me, I never had a transgender friend I was really close to until I was 56, he said, handing Nancy the picture. Think back to the last time you changed your mind about something important. Empathy may also be a factor. Deep canvassing, a relatively new technique, is showing promise and is backed by rigorous testing from researchers and activists in the field. Caitlin Homrich-Knieling, Deep Canvass Coordinator at We the People Michigan in the United States talks about script development and how they come up with script as well as a useful tool called The Cone of Curiosity. Canvassers (who may or may not be members of the impacted community) listen nonjudgmentally. Whats the best way to convince a voter at the door? There, Executive Director David Fleischer, collaborating with political scientists David Broockman and Josh Kalla and a host of staff and volunteers, have been working for years to iterate a model called deep canvassing.. Deep Canvassing. As the team's National Mentoring Coordinator he partnered with organizations and campaigns across the country to develop and apply deep conversation approaches - around marriage equality, trans-inclusive nondiscrimination laws, criminal justice reform, and . He and LGBT Center volunteers began talking to as many people as they could, trying to understand why they lost Prop 8. Those appeals worked last November in Houston, where the same voters who elected a lesbian mayor in 2009 repealed a city ordinance protecting transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Mike LaCour had not assembled [it]. Social science experiments are usually conducted on college campuses, in a lab, in contrived scenarios. But the researchers found that the persuasion attempts had zero effect, Broockman said. We can change the minds of 1 in 10 people we talk to. I asked Steve Deline what he thought. What does it take to divert someone away from prejudice and toward greater acceptance of others in order to build support for progressive causes? Deep Canvassing Script: Voting for Climate in 2022, AYCC, 2022 (4 pg Google Document). Dave and C Deep Canvass Conversation One of the first times I felt successful on a canvass was when I got to Hs house, on a cul-de-sac of nicer []. "When we were nonjudgmental and vulnerable with them and when we exchanged our lived experiences about marriage and gay people, that's when we started changing people's minds," he says. Our organizing philosophy was outlined in the book Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything which was co-authored by Becky Bond, one of the volunteer chief organizers at #KnockEveryDoor and featuring stories about several other co-founding staff and volunteers who worked together on the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, including Texas Zack Malitz, Hannah Fertig, Lynn Hua, Sam Ghazey, Cole Edwards, Kenneth Pennington, Hector Sigala and Max Cotterill. Eboni Taggart has over 15 years of experience in community-building, she has maximized the leadership skills of community members, teachers, youth, and parents to advocate for transformative systemic change on issues that impact their lives. He had lied to us. The Leadership LAB of the Los Angeles LGBT Center trains people in canvassing techniques aimed at reducing prejudice. A new way to talk about abortion? No, Im sorry, she said. Deep canvassing is an approach to conversations which is non-judgemental and invites people to open up about their real conflicted feelings on an issue. Among those who started the conversation, there was a 7 percentage point increase for granting legal status to people brought to the US as children, he says, for example. Deep Canvass, One canvasser stood up and spoke of moving a man to a seven from a three. The key to changing peoples minds is to be curious about what other people think. Over the past few years, deep canvassing has been adopted by some progressive activist groups looking to not only change minds when it comes to policies on immigration and LGBTQ rights, but also to reduce prejudice toward these groups. In a way, they may be a form of public therapy for all sides involved. As Riley prepared to leave for the next house on the block, the woman called out. Most notably, Ella led the LABs collaboration with SAVE, Miami-Dades leading LGBT group, to develop and measure a deep canvass model that could reduce transphobia. Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today. On the issue of transgender rights, the woman seemed mostly supportive but stopped at a nine. Thats what the Mormons use, he said on this sunny, bird-chirping Saturday in February. For her, the video seemed to clarify that Fleischer was specifically asking her about transgender people, a group she had no experience with and seemed to have little inherent empathy for. (Also worth noting: Deep canvassing has only been tested with progressive causes. You can also go more in-depth on the science behind deep canvassing by reading the academic study referenced by the New York Times that was published by political scientists David Broockman and Josh Kalla in the peer-reviewed journal Science. The Leadership LAB works to reduce prejudice and change voters hearts and minds. Technology has helped a bit with the scale challenge, but theres always the question: Do you knock on as many doors as possible, or do you knock on fewer doors and have potentially more fruitful interactions?, Theres also a lot that can go wrong when fresh-faced canvassers descend on unfamiliar neighborhoods. Advancement Leadership Lab was established in 2018 as an experiential and community-based approach to leadership transformation through an investment in people, curriculum, and lifelong community.
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