Vent re Political Canvassers.

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notanewuser wrote: »

Oh come on! A whole street where everybody is at home every afternoon?!

Please do continue to tell MamaMoo that you know more about her own street than she does. Its always good watching someone who knows precisely nothing trying to argue with someone who does know the facts.

lucy03

MamaMoo wrote: »

And quite frankly, my issue is nothing to do with "eastenders being on", more that between 6-8 pretty much everyone around here is doing dinner, bathing their kids and putting them to bed, and as such don't want to be disturbed, so some of us put signs up, some politely inform canvassers, and some just rip them a new one for ignoring both the neighbours and the signs.
Either way, I don't see them getting many votes from our road...

The majority of people are likely to be in between 6pm and 8pm and so that's naturally when canvassers are most likely to call. There are inevitably a few people who don't want their door knocked to talk about politics, but very many people do acknowledge the effort of those who do canvass.

To be honest if a candidate makes an effort to knock on every door that seems to be a positive to me. Over the last year I must have had around six leaflets for the Green Party and three Conservatives leaflets, and the Green Party have canvassed twice. At least that shows some effort and willingness to be in touch.

MamaMoo_2

lucy03 wrote: »

The majority of people are likely to be in between 6pm and 8pm and so that's naturally when canvassers are most likely to call. There are inevitably a few people who don't want their door knocked to talk about politics, but very many people do acknowledge the effort of those who do canvass.

To be honest if a candidate makes an effort to knock on every door that seems to be a positive to me. Over the last year I must have had around six leaflets for the Green Party and three Conservatives leaflets, and the Green Party have canvassed twice. At least that shows some effort and willingness to be in touch.

See, the way I see it is that if a candidate (or their representative in this case, the candidates can't be bothered to canvass themselves) fails to acknowledge my wishes and also ignores myself and my neighbours when they're trying to get my vote, I certainly wouldn't expect them to listen once they *had* got my vote.

lucy03

MamaMoo wrote: »

See, the way I see it is that if a candidate (or their representative in this case, the candidates can't be bothered to canvass themselves) fails to acknowledge my wishes and also ignores myself and my neighbours when they're trying to get my vote, I certainly wouldn't expect them to listen once they *had* got my vote.

I will declare an interest in this as I was an election agent and have organised numerous campaigns.

It is very usual for teams to go out to canvass, a candidate would struggle to get round all of the properties in time, and so other party volunteers are used. It's unusual for the candidate to not canvass as well, primarily because the volunteers would be usually be greatly irritated by that if there weren't any other factors in play.

Teams won't usually canvass during the day on week-days, although they of course might do. This is partly practical as candidates might be at work, but if a team went around in the day-time only there would be complaints from voters saying "I'm hard at work in the day, they're avoiding me" or something similar.

I have heard people complain that canvassers have put through leaflets into letter-boxes with "no junk mail" stickers. Everyone will be different but usually they are delivered to because some people do want to receive election material which is delivered directly by the parties.

I've personally never encountered a street where several people have told them they shouldn't canvass in the evening. Surprisingly few people are particularly unreceptive to canvassers, most who aren't interested just say that or say they're busy and close the door. So I'm not surprised that the canvasser just moved on to the next house. They can't really win, as if they ignore the rest of the street as the first house said then they might lose the votes of those individuals who did want to hear from them.

And people's voting is often very unpredictable. I've heard hundreds of times when someone has said "you're wasting your time, they're voting for party x" or "they won't be interested" or "they'll be busy" to find out that wasn't the case at all. What a neighbour thinks they will want isn't necessarily what they will want, and IMO it's fair to ask everyone.

But it is noticeable though, or was for me, that when canvassers cover an area fully with leaflets and house calls, the electoral result is nearly always noticeably better. Which is why they do it. In addition those canvassers come across people who do need help with issues, they can offer advice on dealing with issues and at least it is pro-active. Unfortunately it's impossible to please everyone.

ed110220

I don't think the canvasser was unreasonable. If I was a canvasser I don't think I would take one person as a self appointed spokesperson for an entire street. I would never arrogate myself such a responsibility for my neighbours even though we get on very well - who am I to say what they will or won't be interested in?

My only gripe at the moment is callers who won't take a polite no thank you. Especially charity door knockers who won't leave me alone even if I'm in the middle of cooking dinner or if I tell them I can't afford x amount a month etc.

Ed