by: emilie nicolas, special to montreal gazette
there have been two kinds of campaigns going on this summer: a vaccination campaign and political campaigns. okay, sure, the federal campaign has not even officially been called, and the municipal ones are yet to start in earnest. but on the ground, they are obviously happening.
both a vaccination and political campaign aim to move you toward taking a certain course of action. and in both cases, hesitancy is a factor that organizers need to wrestle with. if people don’t know what is best for them to do (vote or get vaccinated), and how to do it, then campaigners intervene.
as political parties desperately want to win and stay in power, campaigning strategies have become increasingly sophisticated over the years. indecent amounts of money go into polling to understand exactly what you care about and to craft messaging that is more likely to sway your vote. then, organizers deploy. volunteers go canvassing in each riding to meet with as many voters as possible face-to-face. political parties understand that those human connections, along with the right messages, make a huge difference.
those volunteers then collect data that gets analyzed by party headquarters. they ask you about your leanings, what might change your mind, what issue you care about most, whether or not you plan to vote. if you are hesitant about who to vote for, parties deploy resources to understand what could sway you. if you are sympathetic to their cause but unsure whether you will vote, they put their get-out-the-vote operation in motion.