Are we making too many phone calls?

[proud2BlibKansan]

Nearly every day for the past two weeks, at least one person has complained to me about the number of phone calls they are getting about the election. A lady told me Friday she no longer wanted to vote for Claire McCaskill because she has been called 10 times by Claire's campaign. I explained to her that it isn't only the campaign calling, but the unions and political groups and moveon and many many other organizations and volunteers. But I have to agree 10 phone calls for one candidate is way too many.

I just heard Rachel Maddow saying her parents spent the day calling Missourians for Claire.

I got 3 robo calls on Friday on my cell phone and 3 more over the weekend.

I am sitting here looking at a list I promised to call tonight and I am wondering how effective my calls will be this evening. I will still make these calls because I promised I would but I can't help but wonder if it is a wasted effort.

Most campaign seasons, people complain about the ads. They have been especially nasty this time. (I wonder if Ford in TN is down because of those horrible ads?) And now on top of the ads, we are annoying people with phone calls. Yes, I really believe we are annoying people. At least in Missouri, I think we are over doing the phone calls.

So am I just anxious at the end of a long campaign season? Or are we on the phone too much?

[tblue]

1. When you call, acknowlege that you know they're receiving LOTS of calls

Apologize for being one of many. That can be amazingly disarming. People think it's refreshing to hear from someone who is considerate of their feelings. You'll sound more human, which is 100000000x better than robo calls.

[Wickerman]

2. I doubt it would have a negative impact

but I suppose that Rove might fly it as reason for the Dem failure if he succeeds in stealing the election. :eyes: Hey, I got a call from President Clinton today and it made my Monday!

[splat]

3. I hate them

I'm been awakened after two hours sleep after a long, late shift, disturbed in mid-dump and stubbed my toe twice running to answer the phone. My husband was awakened during his Sunday afternoon nap. '

Is this a scam? It's like spam. I hate it.

Everybody wants to remind me the election is Nov. 7. You think I could possibly forget? I hear that once an hour now.

I think phone spamming has been sold as a campaign tactic by those who profit from the big money to be made. It's terribly rude to the voters.

[Starlight]

13. I agree. I think it's counter productive. Far more people are annoyed & offended than >

are swayed to vote for the candidate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. yes it seems rather counter productive

[Rosemary2205]

4. Oh -- rant city......

I'm on the do not call list and I DO NOT WANT POLITICAL CALLS. As far as I am concerned they are just as annoying as those damn siding salesmen. I once had a policy of refusing to vote for any campaign that called me. Unfortunately the calls are so bad this year that if I did that I'd have to skip voting altogether.

Robo Zell Miller has called me 13 times, Hank Aaron has called me 5 times, not to mention all the judges, commissioners, blah blah blah.

I'm so mad, I swear if a REPUBLICAN gets a law passed that all political calls have to check the do not call list then I'd have a darn hard time not giving them my vote.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Nancy Boyda has promised to propose legislation making these

calls eligible for the no call list.

[Starlight]

28. I would totally support that!

[evlbstrd]

5. I got the same responses.

Also, lots of No Answers. There is heavy screening going on. But, to have it turn votes? I question people like that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I doubt this lady will vote against Claire

but I don't blame her for being pissed.

[evlbstrd]

18. I don't either.

When I was calling, I said, yes, I'm getting a lot of calls, too. But it will all be over on Tuesday, and I'm sorry to have troubled you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. My kid has received 30 phone calls in 8 days

All recordings about the election. Not one live person.

[evlbstrd]

24. Annoying as hell.

I hate the robos.

[LWolf]

6. I just don't answer the phone.

It's been ringing at least 10 times a day for the last 3 weeks. I look at caller ID on the mobile phone; if it's someone I know and want to talk to, I pick it up. If not, it goes to the machine. Out of all those calls, only a handful of people actually left a message; reminding me to vote, or reminding me to vote their way.

I'm not a good person to ask; I hate the telephone, I only answer it to talk to family and friends because I feel guilty if I don't. If I haven't specifically invited someone to give me a call, I don't want to be called.

Do other people really decide to vote, or to vote a certain way, because of phone calls?

If so, then it's certainly worth the call, and those that have made up their minds can turn off the phone, lol.

[wellstone dem]

8. I only answer the phone during election season

because I know how hard calling is and a kind, enthusiastic response makes a big difference to the volunteers.

[Starlight]

26. But that's not the point of calling. Did the callers change your voting plan and persuade you to

now vote for their candidate? If calling isn't swaying people to vote for the candidate, it's a waste of the volunteers' time and the candidates' money.

[riderinthestorm]

29. When I called on behalf of Tammy Duckworth

there's been a ton of money spent in this District so the voters have been deluged, IF people answered the phone they were not real responsive. People would immediately say that they were strongly for Tammy, strongly for Roskam or undecided. When I would finish my spiel for the undecideds on Soc. Security or abortion or stem cell research or whatever, the undecideds would just politely say good bye. There was NEVER any discussion, they were never "persuaded", it felt as though they were watching their favorite TV program and were listening out of politeness only. They always stayed "uncommitted".

I was doing my calling more than 3 weeks ago. At this point, I would think that follow up calls are going to be met with a lot of anger.

In my district, the voters have already heard the issues, over and over. Move on.

[wellstone dem]

40. I don't take their time. It's actually faster if someone actually answers

the phone, says Thanks for working hard, I'm voting your way and hangs up, then it is to wait while the phone rings to see if someone answers. I don't talk on and on, I just try to give a morale boost. I suppose I could pretend they changed my mind, but that would take their time. I've done tons of calling in rooms with people cheering quietly each time someone says they are voting their way.

[LWolf]

38. It's true;

If I were to answer the phone, I would be responsive. I figure a machine is better than an impatient "quit calling," which is what I'm thinking every time the phone rings.

[wellstone dem]

7. I called today and very few people were upset

even the one's who complained about many calls were courteous and kind when I explained many organizations were calling.

Of course the guy who said he liked Bill Clinton's call better than mine hurt me deeply.

And with 119 calls I found at least 3 individuals who didn't know where to vote.

But....I prefaced every call with an apology, mentioned that I was calling from the local dem headquarters, and explained they were getting so many calls because the races are so close and their vote is so important. That said, it would be great if there were some way to legally coordinate all these calls.

[drm604]

9. That lady may have been a victim of the GOP Robo-calls.

Search DU for robo. There are lots of threads about it. I've received these calls in my district, they start out like "We're calling with important information about Lois Murphy". If you continue to listen, they say all kinds of negative things about her, but many people hang up assuming the call was from the Lois Murphy campaign. This has been happening all over the country and may be happening for Claire McCaskill.

The worst part is, if you hang up right away it immediately calls back and starts back at the beginning of the message. It does this repeatedly, I've heard that people have had it call back up to 14 times. People get VERY annoyed and then refuse to vote for the candidate. Inform people of this trick and don't let them be fooled into blaming the Democratic candidate when it is in fact a GOP call.

[Irreverend IX]

45. We should turn this tactic around to bite them in the ass...

It's too late for this election, but next time some enterprising Dems should set up fake GOP robo-callers tailored to be as offensive as possible. For example...

Phone: Rrring!

Voter: Hello?

Robot: HOMOSEXUALS are trying to convert YOUR CHILDREN! Can you imagine the day when AIDS-infected sodomites are allowed into classrooms to teach little Bobby and Suzie about anal sex and cunnilingus? Norm Neocon is the only candidate brave enough to do battle with the homosexual menace, but he can't win without your help. If you do not vote for Norm, homosexuals will molest millions of children over the next ten years, and yours will be among them. If you care about the children, you must vote Norm Neocon.

Or the call could be more to the effect of: "Have you considered the impact of placing white and Negro children in the same schools? The so-called "black culture" is an effort to destroy America's oldest traditions, and only Norm Neocon is brave enough to stop it."

Or maybe: "Can you imagine the shredded body of an infant child? The blood of a baby trickling across steel surgical tools as an abortion doctor throws the child's dismembered limbs into a trash bin? Young children are brutally slaughtered by abortionists every day, and only Norm Neocon can stop it. If you don't want to live in a country where babies' bodies are torn apart and ground into dog food, vote for Norm Neocon."

Best of all would just be to have a Stephen Hawking computer voice reciting the text on the godhatesfags website, preceded by "This advertisement was paid for by the (state) Republican Party."

[drm604]

46. That's funny

and EXTREMELY illegal. Don't do it.

[Irreverend IX]

48. Yeah, the media would pick up on it anyway.

They never bat an eye at unethical GOP tactics, but if Democrats did anything like that it'd be all over the news. It wouldn't hurt, though, to copy the GOP tactic and make some of those "Here's some information about Candidate X" robo-calls.

[LSK]

10. I heard similar complaints during canvassing

One lady yesterday said the phone calls annoyed her the point of not voting.

Its all those damn robocalls.

[Mabus]

11. Now you know why my machine was full yesterday

We've been getting at least one every half hour for the past four or five days. Thankfully they stop at night.

I've stopped doing calls. I'm helping Rex with lit drops tomorrow.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. And I thought you were just blocking MY calls

I figured you had programmed your machine to tell my phone your phone was full. But everyone else who wanted to call you got through. :evilgrin:

[Mabus]

30. Nope, I try to forward your calls to evl

just to piss him off. :P



But, now that you mention it, you idea isn't such a bad one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Oh so this is all about pissing off evl?

I can so play that game. :evilgrin:

[Mabus]

35. It's so easy to do

As you know, I do it all the time. It started as a joke then turned into a hobby. Now, it is just a habit that is turning into an addiction.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Not that my opinion means squat

But I don't think that it would sway anyone to vote against someone they wanted to vote for in the first place.
The most it would do would make people quit answering their phone until the elections or not answer to unknown calls.

[Starlight]

22. I disagree. In 2004, I received so many calls for Stephen Brozak, a candidate I strongly

supported, that I was starting to really dislike him. I can easily imagine undecided people going against a candidate based on nothing more than being annoyed & frustrated by constant calls.

[riderinthestorm]

14. Yes, we call too much.

I did phoning for both Tammy Duckworth and John Laesch here in Illinois. The Laesch campaign had very little resources and virtually no phone banking - I never got a complaint.

BUT Tammy's opponent Roskam has had robocalling going on for the past 2 months and those calls start out like they are for Tammy. I had A LOT of irritated people who were complaining. I would try to explain that the computerized calls were actually Roskam's and that only live people were from Tammy but it made no difference they were curt and usually hung up on me. Yowza.

Canvassing and literature is a lot more effective and less intrusive. I have caller ID and screen heavily so I never get phone calls I don't want but a LOT of people don't and it pisses people off to get 10 campaign calls. I'd be pissed off too.

[mondo joe]

16. I screen all calls these days.

And I quickly edit through all political calls.

[MissMarple]

20. No.

In just one word. No. We are being out called. Hubby and the girl child are registered as Republicans. (hee...hee...hee) I could have gotten someone into the Cheney/Lamborn event at the Broadmoor last Friday. :roflol:

[Spangle]

21. I hate them

My answering machine is filled with robo calls. Glad I didn't answer them. I wouldn't mind if it was a real person. But the autodailer is being used WAY to much!!!!

What bites me the most, getting calls from out of state, that are robo calls.

[sendero]

27. I don't mind..

... the real calls from a real live person, but the robo calls I can do without.

I'm easily annoyed :), but here in TX we've only received a few calls, probably one a day. Several for "Harriet" and also some for a few others. Any Dem on the ballot will get my vote and my wife's vote - and my thanks to the people who man the phones (usually women :)) to GOTV. They have my gratitude and admiration.

[originalpckelly]

31. Are you sure they were from Claire, the Republicans have been robocalling...

and they put the Democratic candidate's name on the front end of the call. If you hang up before you hear the whole thing you think it is Claire McCaskill calling, if not then you hear a dastardly attack on her character, at the backend you'll finally hear a tag from the National Republican Campaign Committee.

They have been doing it everywhere someone is close. So be ready for it, and please explain that to your friend.

[BeFree]

32. Make the calls

One more call to a po'd person won't mean anything, but a call to someone who needs to hear from a committed active dem can make a big differnce.

When someone expressed displeasure at another call I hung up ASAP. But after 200 calls today, I feel that it was one of the best activities I have done in two months of volunteering. My ear hurts and my dialing finger hurts, but my sense of accomplishment is at all time high.

Every well organized campaign should have a list of voters that needs to be contacted by 5pm tomorrow. So get with it, you won't be sorry you did what you could do.

No excuses!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

37. But was it an effective use of your time?

The point isn't how good you feel or that a few people responded positively. Are the millions of phone calls being made by Dem volunteers producing a measurable return on investment? For most telemarketing endeavors, a return rate of one out of 100 is excellent. For a political campaign, not so much. The only research I've found online is a study comparing various GOTV methods in a city council race. They determined that door-to-door canvassing yielded a pretty substantial increase in likelihood of voting, the canvassed group were 7% more likely to vote than the non-canvassed control group. As for phone calls, whether they came from live volunteers or recordings, the difference was negligible. That's just one study but it tends to confirm my own suspicions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. Yes I am thinking it is a waste of our time

and the calls are angering more people than helping a candidate or issue.

[Nite Owl]

34. Until this past week the

calls went well but now people are being overwhelmed with the calls, the mail and the tv ads. They want it over, it's been overkill. Too many groups with the same lists and lists that are out of date don't help either. I know we are trying to match the GOP GOTV efforts but at this point we aren't accomplishing anything. I stopped yesterday.

[Sapphocrat]

36. Um, yes.

I'm thisclose to screaming at the next Dem who phones me. There was never any question I would vote a straight Dem ticket anyway (which I already have, by absentee), and I HATE BEING NAGGED.

Isn't there ANY way to synchronize call lists between phone rooms? Or compare call lists against absentee rolls? Or, best of all, consolidate ALL phone rooms and attack me with just ONE long, torturous call ("Hi, this is Al Gore AND Hillary Clinton AND Bill Clinton AND Jerry Brown AND somebody representing San Jose State University AND a lady with cancer AND your down-the-street neighbor with five kids in school... Vote FOR Eshoo and FOR Ruskin and FOR Bowen and FOR Sinunu and FOR Prop 87, and FOR Measures 1A through 1E, and FOR the Measure H parcel tax, and AGAINST big tobacco, and AGAINST the oil companies, and...")?

Not your fault, proud2Blib. I'm just sick to death of the phone ringing off the hook -- plus, living in California, I not only get 3 million "Hello, this is Al Gore urging you to vote for John Garamendi..." robocalls, but I get at LEAST one live call every other day for EACH of the 80 bazillion state propositions we election-happy Golden Staters have to vote on all the time. (Believe me, if somebody could get enough signatures to get it on the ballot, we'd be voting on the maximum number of times the state controller could wipe his butt between 8am and 5pm every weekday during months with an R in their names.)

It's enough to make me register with the most obscure political party I can find, just to keep the calls at bay.

(The religious lady who came to the door Sunday holding some damned flyer about the end of the world -- oooooo-eeeee-ooooo! -- was freaking lucky she didn't get the brunt of my frustration. But she was old and not at all bright, so I didn't give her my evil-homosexual-Santeria shock-value schtick.)

[ariellyn]

39. Did you hear Maddow talk about the republicon robocalls harrassing

dem voters? The robots call and initially state a dem candidates' name and then after the first call ends, twelve more calls follow. Only someone who listens to the very end of the message will hear that the calls are paid for by the republicons. The calls are illegal by the way but the damage is done and chasing illegality afterwards does not undo the harm to people who are turned off by calls altogether like the ones you mentioned.

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. They are doing that right here in Kansas

damn bastards.

[Mizmoon]

43. I hate all telemarketing

including political telelmarketing. I have been very happy that I disconnected my house phone and only use my cell phone because all telemarketing calls stopped including the political ones. And I am interested in politics.

Personally I think that political telemarketing is a big mistake.

[KharmaTrain]

44. We've Been Only Doing Callbacks...

We've been done "cold-calling" a while ago. Most of the people I've spoken to this past week are ones I spoke to several months back and asked if I could call them back just before the election. Some of the calls were to arrange rides or overcome any questions or doubts people still had.

My phones have been getting slammed by robo-calls for the past several days, so it's been kind of a joke with some of the people I talk to who are suprised to hear a real voice that knows their name. The personal touch can and does go a long way. The groundwork laid months ago is now paying off as I'm sure my calls got a lot more of a hearing than Mike Ditka's robo-call begging to keep his tax cuts.

Hopefully, the outrage of this abuse will be addressed after the election and the most blatant violators are sued into financial ruin.

[lapislzi]

47. We considered this too

Now I preface my calls with "I apologize for the number of calls..." THEN I always make sure to tell the voter that I'm a VOLUNTEER for (candidate), and then I give them the information: where their voting place is; do they need a ride to the polls. Only at the very end do I say that I hope (candidate) can count on their support.

It seems to work a little better than launching straight into the pitch. They almost get to thinking you're offering them something. And I think they're less likely to get angry with a volunteer. Just a hunch.

[Pawel K]

49. My coworker, a democrat, just complained too

She said she got 11 calls on her answering machine yesterday asking her to vote. It will not affect her vote but obviously she was pretty annoyed.