Electoral campaigns 317they have an absentee ballot) is a relatively efficient use of candidates’ resources. Given
that most people don’t pay much attention to politics, it’s much easier to get a supporter
to go to the polls than it is to convert an opponent into a supporter.
Campaign professionals refer to voter mobilization efforts as GOTV (“get out the
vote”) or the ground game.^30 Most campaigns for Congress or the presidency use
extensive door-to-door canvassing, in which volunteers knock on doors and present
their candidate’s message to voters one at a time. Campaigns also commonly use
phone banks, e-mail campaigns, and social media to reach out to potential supporters.
To determine how best to contact these people and convince them to vote, both
Republican and Democratic campaigns use sophisticated databases, combining voter
registration data with demographics.^31 Sometimes these contacts are made through
social media, but many campaigns still use volunteers to knock on doors and present
their candidate’s message to voters one at a time.
Sometimes candidates also try to decrease support and turnout for their opponent.
One tactic is push polling, in which a candidate or a group that supports a candidate
conducts a voter “survey,” typically by phone, that isn’t actually designed to measure
opinions so much as to influence them. Campaigns use these so-called polls to spread
false or misleading information about another candidate by including this (mis)
information in questions posed to large numbers of citizens.^32Going Positive or Negative? Candidates and other organizations also need to
determine the tenor of their campaign—whether they emphasize their own (or their
preferred candidates’) qualifications and platform and refrain from critiquing their
opponents (positive campaigning), or focus on criticizing their opponent’s positions,
experience, and lack of qualifications (negative campaigning). For example, when
Senator Elizabeth Warren talks about her life growing up or her work on reforming
bankruptcy law, that is positive campaigning. But when Warren attacked President
Trump for not releasing his tax returns or mentioned allegations of sexual harassment
against Trump, that was negative campaigning. Candidates and their supporters often
try to raise doubts about their opponents by citing politically damaging statements
or unpopular past behavior. In conducting opposition research, candidates and
interest groups dig into an opponent’s past for embarrassing incidents or personal
indiscretions, either by the candidate or by a member of the candidate’s family or staff.
The positive or negative tone of a campaign may not be driven completely by the
candidates themselves. The Internet, for example, facilitates efforts to popularize
damaging information. For example, in early October 2016, various media
organizations released video of Donald Trump describing his pursuit of women in
vulgar, disturbing terms—ending with the phrase “and when you’re a star, they let you
do it.” While Trump later apologized and tried to explain his comments as “locker room
talk,” the availability of the video made it difficult for Trump to put the issue to rest.
Trump’s victory was even more notable in light of the negative publicity generated by
media coverage of the video and its aftermath.
Candidates who are behind in the polls (or the organizations that support them)
sometimes resort to attack ads: campaign ads that criticize the opponent. While
all critical ads are labeled as negative campaigning, campaign experts distinguish
between ads that criticize a candidate but at the same time accurately describe the
action or position that they are attacking, from ads that stretch the truth (or break
it outright). In this sense, Warren’s criticisms of Trump were negative but factually
correct; Trump has not released his taxes, and there were multiple harassment
allegations made against Trump. On the other hand, an ad run during the 2017 special
House election in Georgia falsely suggested that the Democratic candidate had ties to
terrorist organizations, simply because the Middle Eastern news service Al Jazeera hadGOTV (“get out the vote”)
or the ground game
A campaign’s efforts to “get out the
vote” or make sure its supporters vote
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