In any election cycle, campaign outreach to voters about a candidate or a cause is foundational. Every election cycle involves outreach to voters about a candidate or cause, or encouraging them to vote generally. The methodology for canvassing has historically been through door knocking and phone calls, but modern canvassing includes phone, email, and text banking. Here in the Great State of Illinois, petitions are now circulating and campaigns from Chicago to Carbondale are beginning to execute their 2026 General Election campaigns and canvassing efforts. Using a combination of traditional and newer campaign methods seems to yield the best outcome; here’s why that’s the case and how to implement it.

Types of Canvassing

Traditional canvassing has two main methodologies: door knocking and phone calls. Knocking on doors and having conversations with voters and constituents is a great way to build a connection with voters; seeing a candidate face to face allows voters to ask any questions they may have and get a sense of who the candidate is. Similar connections can be made walking in parades, hosting meet and greets, joining existing or hosting town halls throughout the area they represent, and more. Especially for young or new candidates, building name and face recognition is crucial. 

Though not in person but still personal, phone banking can meet the same goals. Phone banking can be done by a candidate or a surrogate with similar success. Phone calls are a great way to connect with voters, learn the issues that matter most to them, and share campaign information. Phone banking can be done regardless of party or using party specific lists, allowing conversation rooted in party politics to be prepped for and handled confidently. 

Modern mobilization efforts, like text banking and events streamed remotely online, have the same intention as traditional canvassing; the intention is the same but the method has evolved. Campaign texts are most likely sent through a third party system specifically for text banking, or through volunteers’ peer to peer texting. Peer to peer texting asks volunteers to text people they know- family, friends, teachers, coworkers- and encourage them to vote for their candidate. This is a great way to connect with a volunteers’ network. More widespread efforts, for statewide or district wide campaigns for example, may opt to use a third party system so text banking is sent out on behalf of the campaign rather than a volunteer’s personal phone number. Online events, like Zoom coffee talks or campaign catch ups, make connecting with candidates easy and approachable. 

Digital outreach social media and online methods generally are still fairly new practices. Creating a campaign website and social media accounts has become standard practice as they are great ways to share candidate perspective, upcoming events they will be attending, election and voting information, and more. Digital canvassing is especially impactful for youth voters, those aged 18 to 29, who tend to be online at higher rates than other generations. Campaigns can check their digital engagement through website or profile views, likes and comments, and other kinds of engagement, which allows for immediate feedback on if a post is impactful or not, though this does not directly translate into votes or candidate support.

Efficacy of Canvassing

Canvassing can be expensive, both in capital and time, depending on the method, so it’s important to know the type of campaign you are running will be effective. Though most canvassing is done by volunteers, campaign staff must seek out those volunteers, plan the canvassing effort, train their volunteers, and coordinate other logistics to ensure the canvassing is successful. It’s important, then, to ensure canvassing is a worthy use of resources.

A 2024 study found that canvassing is most impactful in primary elections and initiative campaigns when centered on getting folks to vote or persuading voters in a campaign’s direction with issue-based canvassing (Patel). Canvassing is widely found to be effective, but does not provide a guaranteed win or increase in voter turnout. Because canvassing is impactful and worthwhile, the question for campaigns shifts to what kind of canvassing is most effective. This, however, is up for debate, but the general consensus is that using a combination of types of canvassing makes the most impact. 

A 2023 study found that “door-to-door campaigning by the candidate increases the candidate's vote by 3 percentage points and the vote margin by 6 percentage points in a two-candidate race” (Baum and Owens). This tried and true method of canvassing can’t be written off. Door knocking can be used to strategically reach certain voter demographics; canvassing on a weekday morning or afternoon may see voters who are retired, elderly, stay at home parents or other caregivers, unemployed folks, or folks with an irregular work schedule. Door knocking on weekends, then, accesses voters who work a regimented weekday schedule, and anyone who has more flexibility on weekends and may be more willing to have a conversation and be responsive. Planning phone call banking efforts work much the same way, and the timing of the calls is crucial to consider. 

The Value of Modern Canvassing

This is where modern canvassing comes in. Most people have text or email access. As mentioned, connecting through phone calls can be effective, especially for folks more comfortable and willing to talk on the phone. Receiving a text or email, however, is not invasive or time sensitive, so voters can reply at their leisure without someone physically waiting for their response. Written canvassing, like texting or social media posts, is also accessible to voters not just in a fleeting moment, but for them to revisit. No call back or revisiting a house needed, voters have the agency to view canvassing information on their own time and at no additional cost or effort from the canvassing team.

Modern canvassing can be made cost effective. Sending mass emails can be time consuming as newsletters must be written, edited and confirmed, and then often sent out through a paid email sending service, but this is still less invasive than door to door or phone canvassing. Phone and text banking’s cost is dependent on the execution. Hosting a texting bank event asking volunteers to use their own phone to send texts to their own contacts could be essentially free if the venue and advertising for the event are low cost. On the other hand, campaigns wanting to make a big text or email canvassing push can purchase software to run these events, even spending time training volunteers to make the most impact they can.

The demographic reachable by modern canvassing techniques usurps the traditional. Those unreachable through modern methods are simply defined as those without access to email or text, or those whose contact information is unavailable- a much smaller group of unreachable people than we may see in door knocking. These constituents are the perfect example of why combining canvassing methods is standard practice and most effective; any voter can be reached, but campaigns have to be creative to reach everyone.

The Future of Canvassing

Where does canvassing go from here? Like anything in politics, the impact of canvassing is ever changing and evolving, so defining a formula of how to canvass is impossible. On a smaller scale, I foresee social media and the internet to continue to develop as a method of canvassing. Having constantly accessible campaign information at voters’ fingertips could prove to be necessary in modern campaigning, or voters could find they are inundated with canvassing and be put off of voting- only time will tell which will materialize, but I think a combination of the two is the most likely.

In the longer term and on a broader scale, data collection on canvassing can be improved so canvassing can be as streamlined as possible. One way to do this is through exit polls. Edison Research, who conducts exit polls, could ask general canvassing questions: were you contacted by a campaign team this cycle, how did they connect with you, did it change your vote, etc. Collecting data from voters who turned out could be invaluable, and learning what mobilized them may help campaigns mobilize other voters, and there is currently a gap in this kind of data. This could also be conducted by smaller canvassing efforts, including a follow up to text or email canvassing on the contact’s effectiveness, for example. 

Onwards and Upwards

In “How Effective Is Political Canvassing? Everything To Know”, Patel encourages canvassing techniques to be unique and innovative, and I agree. There is not a singular correct way to canvass, and as people and politics continue to develop, canvassing will too. The best canvassing efforts connect people and strengthen their connection to candidates, and mobilize folks to vote. Canvassing can be expensive, depending on the strategy, but it’s also an investment. Elections are won vote by vote, person by person, and the greatest way to connect people with a campaign and encourage them to turnout to vote is through combined methods of outreach and mobilization.

Works Cited:

Baum, Charles L., and Mark F. Owens. “Does Personal Door-to-Door Campaigning Influence Voters? Evidence from a Field Experiment.” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, vol. 105, Aug. 2023, p. 102043. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2023.102043.

Effectiveness of Political Canvassing: Direct Engagement. 18 Jan. 2024, http://www.sunbasedata.com/how-effective-is-political-canvassing-power-of-direct-engagement.

Patel, Tanvi. How Effective Is Political Canvassing? Everything To Know. 19 Sep. 2024, https://callhub.io/blog/canvassing/how-effective-is-political-canvassing/.