Sign Waving vs Canvassing

[specsaregood]

Is there a way to tell if someone has already signed up as my precinct's leader?

When you sign up and it lists precincts, it lists the leaders of those precincts. So in short, yes.

 

[ronpaul4pres]

Just think: If sign waving were better than canvassing, it would be promoted on http://voters.ronpaul2008.com. It is not.

 

[zakkubin]

The answer is both.

You sign wave to get casual name recognition to the masses.

Then you canvass to talk 1 on 1 and they have at least "heard of him" so he is legit. This makes them much more apt to listen to his message.

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BUT in a cruch time I would advocate what my group did today:

Today my meetup group did a sign wave like your talking about. But we had a great system where when the cars were stopped at red lights we all picked a car and handed them R.P. literature. When that light turned green we ran to the traffic that was then stopping... 3 hours later and we now have name recognition with thousands and many of those people have some literature to read about him...

People actually turned around and came over to ask for yard signs! So I think this is a mix of both worlds. Effects lots of people and also some 1 on 1. ( only 30 seconds- green light= you're about to be ran over )

 

[eldeeder]

I don't think he meant it as a insult, so don't take it that way.

It sounds like you have been running your hindend off trying to support Ron Paul and have just discovered that you were on a treadmill the whole time.

Just take this knowledge, and turn your efforts into more productive approaches. The campaign has officially asked us to canvass, we should take their advice.

I didn't take it that way at all. If it just took one person to get me to quit, I would've quit months ago. People can say whatever they want to me, I don't care. Im a grownup, I can deal with it. I was just saying dont dismiss anyone, and dont discourage anyone. I haven't found any success in canvassing. That doesn't mean it doesnt work. I was just looking for opinions, and thankfully, I can find plenty of diverse ones here! Viva Ron Paul!

 

[libertarian4321]

Sign waving is utterly useless in terms of spreading the message or teaching people about Ron Paul. The only thing sign waving is good for is showing that Ron Paul has support. That's not going to convince people to vote for him though.

You've been on these forums long enough to see DOZENS of threads about people who won't vote for Ron Paul because "they don't think he has a chance."

Yet you think that sign waving is useless because all it does is show that Ron Paul has support?

Let that sink in for a second, then tell me how "useless" it is...

I won't even get into the fact that a large portion of the electorate still has no idea that Ron Paul is even a Presidential candidate yet.

I guarantee you that 15 people at a busy intersection at rush hour will expose a hell of a lot more people to Ron Paul's name than the same 15 people banging on doors at 2 PM on a weekday (when most voters aren't even going to be home).

On top of that, there are some people who WILL volunteer to sign wave, but simply WILL NOT be willing to pound on doors.

So no, sign waving is not "useless."

Both sign waving and canvassing are useful- its up to the individual to decide whether his time is best spent doing one, the other, or both...

 

[newmedia4ron]

CANVASSING

why?
You need to make sure people are registered, know their polling place, etc
You NEED TO GET THEIR PHONE NUMBERS
Collecting contact info of people you know want to vote for Ron Paul is critical
Its all about setting up the GOTV

 

[AmyPA]

Lit drop. Phone calls. Face to face. Do it.

 

[Richandler]

In all fairness, I dont really see people doing much of anything for any other candidates.

Then you haven't been paying attention to the race. All the candidates who have won a state or two have people making calls and canvassing non-stop the week before the elections hitting upwards of millions of people with actual conversations about their candidate. The truth is the campaign needed to get the whole precinct leader thing started earlier if we were going to win. What we must learn from this is what we have to start doing earlier if we are to win any elections in the furture.

 

[newmedia4ron]

What we must learn from this is what we have to start doing earlier if we are to win any elections in the furture.

Hell yeah as soon as the general election is over we need to get a head start for the 2012 election.

 

[dblee]

You have to understand that canvassing is not about converting people, although that is a nice side effect. It's about identifying people that already support paul so that when primary or caucus day comes, we can GET OUT THE VOTE.

Having all the supporters in the world doesn't matter if they don't vote.

 

[libertarian4321]

Then you haven't been paying attenti+on to the race. All the candidates who have won a state or two have people making calls and canvassing non-stop the week before the elections hitting upwards of millions of people with actual conversations about their candidate. The truth is the campaign needed to get the whole precinct leader thing started earlier if we were going to win. What we must learn from this is what we have to start doing earlier if we are to win any elections in the furture.

I think you are missing a salient point.

Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past 10 years+ knows Rudy Giuliani and McCain. Romney is almost as well known.

Ron Paul is an obscure congressman from Texas that almost no one but Libertarians and those in his district had heard of 6 months ago, and who is probably still no better known to "Joe Sixpack" than Ru Paul.

So efforts that get his name out to the masses and show support (e.g. sign waving) will be far more effective for Ron Paul (low name recognition) than it will for Rudy Giuliani (almost universal name recognition). Of course, canvassing helps with name recognition, too. But you can reach a lot more people in an hour sign waving than you can walking neighborhoods (thousands sign waving versus dozens canvassing).

And again, for those who simply WILL NOT canvass (and there are many who won't), sign waving is better than sitting home watching Oprah or tapping away at your keyboard on the Ron Paul forums...

 

[AmyPA]

Those who won't canvass should be out flyering, or writing letters, or making phone calls, or converting people at the local watering hole. Something.

If RP supporters refuse to do anything but sit on their computers and sign wave, we're in a heck of a lot of trouble.

 

[AmyPA]

Signwaving is fine for a group activity one day a week. And if you want to go hold a sign on your lunch hour, great. But putting a huge focus on it, imo, would be a mistake.

And you ought to get your members to go do a lit drop in a neighborhood after the sign wave. If you make the not-so-fun stuff a group activity, it's a bit more fun.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Do your canvassing. Sign wave while you sign bomb.

Sign bomb from 10 AM to noon, lit drop until 1 PM, Canvass from 1 PM until sunset, then sign bomb and sign wave until 8 PM then set up a table on the strip, with hella foot traffic, sipping coffee and chatting up Ron Paul until about 10:30 PM then sign bomb and sign wave until 1 AM.

Signwave while you signbomb!

Wash, rinse, repeat.

 

[tcindie]

Those who won't canvass should be out flyering, or writing letters, or making phone calls, or converting people at the local watering hole. Something.

If RP supporters refuse to do anything but sit on their computers and sign wave, we're in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Agreed.. But the signwaver-only types are still better than those who jumped ship after Iowa and New Hampshire (two mostly insignificant states having only 52 delegates collectively between the two)

Because at least the sign wavers are still here, and will most likely vote at their primary/caucus. Hopefully they'll have others voting with them. Sure it's not as effective as other things, but it's not wholly counterproductive.

 

[JohnnyWrath]

I don't like being bothered at home via phone or knock....my opinion.

My advice is sign waving 100%, but do it in areas where hopefully you can hand out literature as well....easy to read and NOT too long or too in depth....if it is not catchy right from the start....it will go right in th garbage.

OK, I am NOT kidding here at all....completely serious....no matter what you do, try to get friends that are girls, and are easy on the eyes to help with.....this should be common sense, but it quite often is not it seems....guys will be swayed by girls so much easier than by other guys...even if they hate Ron Paul right now, they will stand and talk about him with a pretty girl when they would tell another guy to F-off.....guys are always more likely to listen if a girl is present.....

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I don't like being bothered at home via phone or knock....my opinion.

My advice is sign waving 100%, but do it in areas where hopefully you can hand out literature as well....easy to read and NOT too long or too in depth....if it is not catchy right from the start....it will go right in th garbage.

OK, I am NOT kidding here at all....completely serious....no matter what you do, try to get friends that are girls, and are easy on the eyes to help with.....this should be common sense, but it quite often is not it seems....guys will be swayed by girls so much easier than by other guys...even if they hate Ron Paul right now, they will stand and talk about him with a pretty girl when they would tell another guy to F-off.....guys are always more likely to listen if a girl is present.....

The cold fact is that canvassed precincts do statistically better than twice what uncanvassed districts do. I am not a fan of canvassing, but precincts HAVE to be canvassed. If it comes down to a choice between only canvassing and winning, or only sign waving and losing; well, I'll go do the hardest, slowest job: door to door canvassing.

Most people are appreciative. Maybe 1-2% just close the door and say 'go away.' If a good canvass doubles our precinct vote tallies, then I will canvass.

 

[qwerty]

This is the most effective way, it has been proven!

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=104208

 

[libertarian4321]

I don't like being bothered at home via phone or knock....my opinion.

Same here- and the door knock is even more annoying than the phone.

If you aren't a friend, a relative, or someone coming to tell me I've won the publishers clearing house prize, stay the hell away from my door- I don't want what you are selling- and even if I did, I won't buy it because you are annoying me by knocking...

Since I don't like being pestered at home, whether by salesmen, religious nuts, or political canvassers, I won't do it to others.

 

[Sey.Naci]

None of the other campaigns do sign waving. That should be your first clue as to how ineffective it is. Canvassing and personal phone calls make much more impact.

What he said.