Does canvassing increase voter turnout? A field experiment

Does canvassing increase voter turnout? A field experiment

Alan S. Gerber* and
Donald P. Green

Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, 77 Prospect Street, P.O. Box 208209, New Haven, CT 06520-8209

Edited by Richard D. McKelvey, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, and approved July 8, 1999 (received for review June 4, 1999)

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a randomized field experiment involving registered voters in the city of New Haven. Nonpartisan get-out-the-vote messages were delivered through personal canvassing shortly before the November 1998 election. We find that personal canvassing increased voter turnout by ≈6. The effect of personal contact seems to be slightly smaller for voters registered with a major political party and higher for unaffiliated voters, although the hypothesis that all voters are equally affected could not be rejected. Study of several alternative political messages provided equivocal evidence suggesting the superiority of a canvassing appeal that emphasizes the closeness of the election.

Footnotes

↵ * To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: alan.gerber{at}yale.edu.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the Proceedings Office.
↵ † The finding that participation can be stimulated by mobilization efforts is consistent with experimental evidence that citizens who are subjected to a preelection interview with political themes are also more likely to vote. The interviews were not designed to encourage voting directly. For details on this finding, see refs. 10–12.
↵ ‡ A further difficulty is that in nonexperimental analysis that uses survey data the independent variable is typically reported political contact. A voluminous literature indicates that respondent reports will be subject to potentially serious measurement error stemming from faulty memory or deliberate misreporting. For studies of misreports of turnout, see refs. 16 and 17.
↵ § We also eliminated all of Ward 1, which primarily consists of Yale University and students living near the campus.
↵ ¶ This design differs from that used by Gosnell (7), who assigned entire city blocks to the experiment and treatment groups.
↵ ‖ In another study, we pursue this strategy. We study the turnout effects of a brief political phone contact and create a control group composed of those people who are willing to take a phone call.
↵ ** Laboratory experiments have assessed the effects of partisan advertisements on reported turnout intentions. The evidence suggests that partisan ads might increase turnout among voters who share the advertiser’s partisanship and that negative advertising might reduce turnout among independent voters (19).