I am almost too relaxed now to write this having had the whole day off campaigning to spend with the family. Needless to say the weather was naff the moment we left the house. Enjoyed a wander around a quieter-than-usual City, distracted by too many cafes. Got home and had one of those manic sorting out the house moments. Turned the place upside down in the name of simplifying our lives.
Yesterday was also a manic effort and I have to pay tributes to all those who helped us get out a constituency worth of letters to people voting by Post this year. In fact the support was so good we managed to grab a few hours of doorknocking around Eaton Rise and the Newmarket Road too, where the response was good - but the "outs" won by a country mile! Today I am glad to say that my team were more active than I was and our latest leaflet has started to make its way out across the constituency.
It made me wonder; people are handing back leaflets now - not because they aren't voting for us, but they say that have been saturated by them. I said recently that I recieved 2 different LibDem tabloid newspapers on one day and I am told they were delivering 3 things together yesterday too. Is this too much? Can you get "too many political leaflets"? Another resident told me that all 4 parties had delivered them on one day. We have done quite a lot of leaflets and letters in this campaign but we've been trying to balance this with doorknocking; other parties have chosen just to deliver literature. I suppose the result will tell us which strategy worked.
Does anyone out there have a view on how many political leaflets are "too many" in a General Election?
8 comments:
To be honest, where I live I have only received one from the Tories. At least 3 from the liberals and the Greens, and a couple from Labour.
You don't think you will win around my area, or is it the fact you don't have enough people on the ground.
To be honest, I don't mind having a lot of party literature. You can always recycle it if need be. Its could be worse. You could have no party literature.
I visited a friend of mine in Norwich North and was surprised to see Bill Holden the independent candidate walking alone delivering leaflets to people. Good for him. Although I wouldn't personally vote for him even if I did live in Norwich North.
the by election in hartepool, cant remember when, i helped out for a few days with dad, and at the tender age of about 11, was shocked to find leaflets being thrown back at us in anger, allow me to say that all parties got this, because, politically the elction was tight between all 3 parties, loads of money being drilled into it from all angles, and because they knew the election was coming, parties had been delivering about a leaflet a day for 6 weeks, poeple were sick rightfully, but alot of leaflets for about w weeks surely isnt too much bother.
if poeple cant except election leaflets, poeple cant complain, they probably dont vote, dont open themselves to new viewpoints.
Redstar,
Don't you think that you may be in an area that the Liberals and Greens feel they can get the vote, whereas in other areas the conservatives have more of a chance of getting more votes, and with man power you need to spread it wisely to actually be able to get the maximum number of votes.
Also as the liberals and greens have no chance of getting 300 or 350 seats people who are in places where leaflet dropping isn't done that much due to there not being much, if any, chance of getting in, the liberals and greens can easily get people in. The fact that the conservatives have to mostly use people from the constituency and not from outside areas because the conservatives can campaign nearly everywhere so need them in their own constituencies.
So no, it is a case of the Liberals and Greens standing next to no chance of getting in in other places, so they can have a lot less man power overall but can easily have large amounts of man power in certain places to get a few MPs in.
Antony -
Slight hypocrisy here. I recieved 2 leaflets from you in one go tonight. I live in New Costessey. In fact you delivered them, because I watched you and didn't answer my door.
But yes, I will be voting for you.
On a wider political level I feel political apathy is at a high and this has been a trend for some years.
I feel this is a particular issue that all political parties need to combat.
The fear I have is that people feel disengaged with the body politic, and loose faith in the Westminster political system.
This will pose a potential problem for political legitimacy, and faith in our Westminster system.
We need a new 'civil society' which is geared towards more democratic representation in terms of the economic and political superstructure of society. If the citizenry have a stakeholder in terms of the distribution and means of production and take leadership roles in representative politics more people WILL BE ENGAGED.
We only got our first bit of Labour literature yesterday, a weighty tome that so far I've only flicked through.
Brilliantly we've now completed the set though, as all the fringe party propaganda dropped on the door mat this morning. Where do we send our stamp addressed envelope to for the "Campaign 2010 Collectors Scrapbook"? Only joking, they're handy rolled up for lighting the BBQ.
Very disappointed that there's not been any door knockers our way yet, does this just take place through the day?
Anonymous, I share you concerns that there's not been any door knockers our way yet.
I would assume it does take place throughout the day and some PPC do have jobs (which is fair enough). But, at least a party workers or official would have sufficed. I still have not see the Conservative Party or the Lib Dems door knock where I live.
My mother said that she did see Charles Clarke the other day and would have invited him in for a chat, but he then disappeared. So I wonder if they are targetting core Labour voters, knowing that my mum isn't. (My mother voted Green last time - so that may be a reason).
This is a broad side attack on the 3 main parties. You need to talk about policy more gents in your literature you are posting through doors. It will not doing just slagging off each other , people have policy concerns and want an outline of what the party stands for in terms of that specific policy. Not a leaflet just featuring a photo shoot.
I come from the old school of political followers who believe it is not what you like, but the policies you believe in. I don't care if you look good in a photo or not.
I strongly encourage people to read the main parties manifestos (I imagine all you all have at least some access to the internet either at work or at home) and to go through policy. As an old policy nerd I love going through the documents in details.
But don't forget this is coming from a politics nerd who always contrasts the most recent Labour manifesto with the 1983 Labour Manifesto.
Door knocking generally takes place from 10 - 1 at the weekends or late in the day (6-10) midweek
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