DEEP CANVASSING 101
Shruthi and Swathi Bhuma
AGENDA
 Introduction
 Origin and Theory
 Basic Building Blocks
 Application to the Single Payer Movement
 Concluding Remarks
If you want to get people to take off their coats, don't blow it off. Make them feel warm, and they’ll take it off on their own.
DEEP CANVASSING ORIGIN & THEORY
DEEP CANVASSING
Candid two-way conversations where
canvassers ask voters to share voters’
own relevant, emotionally significant
experiences and reflect on them aloud.
Prop 8 Debacle
Typical Canvassing
Facts
Don’t
Unify
Us
HOW IS DEEP CANVASSING DIFFERENT? A
COMPARISON OF APPROACHES
Conventional Canvass
High-Quality Canvass
Deep Canvass
Canvasser hurriedly reads a
script.
Voter talks, but canvasser talks
more.
Voter does more talking than
canvasser.
Canvasser delivers a “message.”
Canvasser delivers a “message.”
Voter candidly describes
personal experiences.
Usually under 30 sec
Usually under 2 min.
Average 10 min.
Canvassers tell voters what to
think.
Canvassers tell voters what to
think.
Voters draw own conclusions.
APPLICATION
 Prejudice Reduction (which leads to
changing minds and thereby votes)
 Voter Research
WHY DOES DEEP
CANVASSING WORK?
 Self persuasion
 Active Processing
 Analogic Perspective-taking
 Cognitive Dissonance
REMAINING
QUESTIONS
 For which issues will deep canvassing be particularly
effective, and for which will it be less helpful?
 Can a deep canvass move people to action beyond
opinion change?
 Can these principles be successfully deployed over
the phone?
DEEP CANVASSING BUILDING BLOCKS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Core Skills for Canvassers
Script
Practice
Building an Iterative Learning
Curve
Building Block 1
CORE SKILLS FOR
VOLUNTEER DEEP
CANVASSERS
 Empathy
ACTIVE
LISTENING
 Validation
 Honesty
HOLDING
VALIDATING
CONVERSATIONS
 Echo the person’s feelings back to
them
 Give the person space
 Remain on their side
 Have positive body language
BRAINSTORMING
&CRAFTING
PERSONAL
STORIES TO
SHARE
The type of story you share
depends on whether you
are:
 Directed affected by the
issue
OR
 An ally of those directly
affected by the issue
Remember:
The purpose of
sharing your story
is to model
vulnerability, and
to build a safe
space in the
conversation for
voters to
remember, share
and reflect on
THEIR personal
stories.
Building Block 2
THE CANVAS SCRIPT
BASIC COMPONENTS
1. Ask the audience’s opinion on the issue and explore it; Use a
video, story, or other outside source to explore their feelings
more deeply
2. Ask about the audience’s personal experience
3. Connect personal experience back to the audience’s initial
perception
4. Engage their initial concerns
5. Ask their opinion on the original issue
SCRIPT
BREAKDOWN
 Introduction
 First Rating (0-10 Scale)
 Defining and Humanizing ______________
 Personal Conversation
 Wrap Up and Final Rating (0-10 Scale)
APPLICATION 1—
PREJUDICE REDUCTION
EXAMPLE:
SAVE EDUCATION SCRIPT
“Trans Script”
“Ally Script”
“Trans Script”
“Ally Script”
“Trans Script”
“Ally Script”
APPLICATION 2—VOTER
RESEARCH EXAMPLE:
KNOCK EVERY DOOR
CAMPAIGN
Building Block 3
PRACTICE
JUST KIDDING !
Building Block 4
ITERATIVE LEARNING
CULTURE
01
02
03
04
Debrief every
action
Benefit from
others’
experience
Re-evaluate and
update the script
Canvass with
videographers;
then watch the
footage with
your team
HOW TO ASCEND A LEARNING CURVE QUICKLY
APPLICATION TO THE SP MOVEMENT
THIS IS A MOVEMENT MOMENT
Opportunities
Challenges
 Biases against Single Payer need to be
 Growing national awareness of Single
Payer (Thanks to Bernie Sanders Presidential
Campaign)
 More people insured under ACA = more
real lived experiences to ground substantive
conversation
 Anger against the “Repeal and Replace
Efforts,” and most recently AHCA, could be
channeled into support for Single Payer
broken down into identity issues for deep
canvassing to be most effective
 Creating a well designed, branched script
for Single Payer will be time intensive
because it needs to prepare canvassers to
address a variety of entrenched views
 There is no baseline level of knowledge
regarding healthcare economics/finance, or
single payer—need to create a simple, easy
to understand video to show voters during
deep canvassing
Feb 2017: Introduction of SB 562Californians for a Healthy California Act
CLOSING
“We are all human at the kitchen table.”
- Ava DuVernay