Abstract
We report the results of a randomized field experiment involving approximately 30,000 registered voters in New Haven, Connecticut. Nonpartisan get-out-the-vote messages were conveyed through personal canvassing, direct mail, and telephone calls shortly before the November 1998 election. A variety of substantive messages were used. Voter turnout was increased substantially by personal canvassing, slightly by direct mail, and not at all by telephone calls. These findings support our hypothesis that the long-term retrenchment in voter turnout is partly attributable to the decline in face-to-face political mobilization.
Keywords
Direct mailTurnoutVoter turnoutRetrenchmentPoliticsPolitical scienceHavenPolitical mobilizationAdvertisingBusinessPublic administrationVotingLaw
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Publication Info
- Year
- 2000
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 653-663
- Citations
- 1364
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Alan S. Gerber,
Donald P. Green
(2000).
The Effects of Canvassing, Telephone Calls, and Direct Mail on Voter Turnout: A Field Experiment.
American Political Science Review
, 94
(3)
, 653-663.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2585837
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.2307/2585837