Updates from the 2008 WOMEN VOTE! Program
Persuading Swing Voters: New Hampshire
Click on the images above to see full PDFs of some of the mailings we're sending.
Older women voters have proven to be a volatile bloc. Making sure they vote Democratic is critical to success for Barack Obama and all Democratic candidates -- including, in the battleground state of New Hampshire, U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, and Democratic Gov. John Lynch. Victory for these candidates ultimately depends on these late-deciding swing voters.
Also, New Hampshire allows voters to register as late as election day -- in fact, in 2004, 11 percent of the New Hampshire electorate registered that day. This presents an additional challenge.
Through a massive micro-targeting project, EMILY’s List is concentrating on the 38 percent of voters who are undeclared -- neither Democrats nor Republicans. We’ve identified those who are the true "swing” voters. These voters are disproportionately older, non-college educated women, and we know which ones are persuadable. We’re targeting them with mail that addresses economic issues and reminds them of the Republican culpability for the skyrocketing cost of fuel and health care.
EMILY’s List is also targeting individuals who are not currently registered to vote, but are likely to show up at the polls on election day so we can reach beyond the traditional voters to talk to the unregistered persons who could make the winning difference for Obama, Shaheen, Shea-Porter, and other races up and down the ticket.
And research for this groundbreaking program shows that it works -- swing voters move dramatically toward supporting Jeanne Shaheen after receiving targeted communications from the EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! program.
The entire progressive community in New Hampshire is using EMILY’s List modeling for targeting and communication. Thanks to EMILY’s List, our allies are running the most efficient canvasses, phone banks, and mobilization efforts possible.
Don't Stop at the Top Campaign: North Carolina
In North Carolina, 260,000 newly registered Democratic voters since January have put the state in play for Barack Obama -- and we need to make sure those voters don’t stop at the top of the ticket, but vote for our EMILY’s List candidates Kay Hagan, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Bev Perdue, who’s running for governor as well. We’ve created an Internet-based voter education campaign designed to help those first-time voters in particular understand what’s at stake and why it’s important to vote for Democrats at every level.
Reaching these voters will help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden -- and the Democratic women candidates who will fight for a progressive America with the help of strong majorities in the Senate and the House.
The "Don't Stop at the Top" ad campaign is designed to harness the enthusiasm for change among young voters and make it reach down the ballot to progressive candidates for governor, Congress, and state office.
And to reach those young voters, we went online -- because that’s where the young people are. Our research reveals that young people are excited about voting for Barack Obama. And they understand that he needs strong allies in Congress and the states to make his progressive agenda come alive. But they want easy access on the web to credible information about their choices -- or they’ll simply leave the rest of their ballots blank.
We've been using social networking sites, radio, and TV ads to make sure these voters know how important it is that they vote for Democrats up and down the ballot.
Listen to one of the radio ads that are part of the "Don't Stop at the Top" campaign.