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. 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. Its this nonjudgmental exchanging of narratives that Broockman and Kalla think is the key ingredient in how deep canvassing works. found to be successful at reducing transgender prejudice. I think theyre wonderful. In a way, they may be a form of public therapy for all sides involved. "There's something special about caring about why [people] feel the way they do. Nancy, it seemed, was a supporter no need to worry about her. What an African-American person has faced because of their race is not the same as the discrimination that Ive faced for being bisexual, or that my friend has faced for being transgender, she told the group. Committing to curiosity rather than assumptions or judgment. Deep Canvassing to Shift Hearts, Mind and Votes. Listening to a political opponents concerns. We want to avoid asking for permission, she told them. 4. A typical state or national campaign, even one with a ground-game focus, doesnt want its volunteers spending 10 or 15 minutes at a door. They sent out surveys to thousands of homes in Miami, asking people to answer questions that included how they felt about transgender people and if they would support legal protection against discrimination for transgender people. The groups feared a backlash against a recent ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. But he also knew that political persuasion had not been studied often. Oh, yes, Nancy said. This kind of conversation helps me talk to family members who arent totally there yet on accepting their identity, Topping says. In New Hampshire, Susmik reached out to immigrant and refugee communities in the state, which has a particularly high number of Bhutanese refugees from Nepal. The Center's carefully honed method of "deep canvassing" delivered the first empirically tested and proven process where a single conversation decreases prejudice in a long-lasting way. Fleischer does improv in his spare time, and the training sometimes felt like a well-oiled comedy routine. 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. Its also a challenge to change a campaigns habits and make the goal of canvassing be to successfully relate to other people. An excellent introduction to deep canvassing and the work of the Leadership LAB can be found in an April 2016 feature article in the New York Times Magazine: How Do You Change Voters Minds? "There were all these volunteers who gave their Saturdays [to do the experiment]," Broockman says. The canvassers also share their own stories: about being an immigrant, about being a member of the LGBTQ community, or about just knowing people who are. Why is deep canvassing relevant to the world we live in today? I came out two years ago now, and one of the hardest things for me has been talking with folks who dont understand [gender identity], and not immediately writing someone off because they dont immediately get it, Topping says. She said she was trying to evolve on the issue, though. Transcript: Interview from Episode 080 - You Are Not So Smart 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. Second, we will provide volunteers with materials, including template scripts, data entry sheets, sign-in sheets, field training and debrief agendas, etc. First, theres the magnitude of the impact. 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.

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