This guide serves as an entry point into the world of politics and how you can make a difference through political activism. I have previously written about politics, specifically in an introduction to political activism after the Women’s March and how to tackle hopelessness in the 24/7 news cycle. This guide takes it a step further, providing insight into how political campaigns work, where our system is failing, and how you can make a difference.
Why Did I Write This Guide?
Hello, my name is Cambria. I am your average non-profit organizer turned digital marketing consultant. I spend far too much time reading political news on Twitter, re-watching the West Wing, and listening to policy wonks.
So why did I decide to write a guide on politics and political activism?
Recently, I received my MA in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Political Communication, specifically social media. What that means is I have been studying how to create winning political campaigns, from the psychology of getting you to vote for my candidate, to how marketing strategy converts social media accounts into actual voters. I have consulted on local and state campaigns and volunteer my time with non-partisan organizations to try and make the political system work as it should. I have the radical idea that politicians should represent the people who elected them. As George McGovern said,
“The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plane.”
I believe our country can do better. In fact, I believe our country has to do better. If not, we are doomed to fail. However, instead of doom and gloom, I am optimistic about the future: optimistic about people showing up at town halls and telling their Members of Congress to step it up, optimistic about people being fed up and choosing to run for office themselves. The following quote from Alex Steffan (which I expanded on in this blog post), is what motivated me to get involved in politics and to create this guide.
“Optimism is a political act.
Entrenched interests use despair, confusion and apathy to prevent change. They encourage modes of thinking which lead us to believe that problems are insolvable, that nothing we do can matter, that the issue is too complex to present even the opportunity for change. It is a long-standing political art to sow the seeds of mistrust between those you would rule over: as Machiavelli said, tyrants do not care if they are hated, so long as those under them do not love one another. Cynicism is often seen as a rebellious attitude in Western popular culture, but, in reality, cynicism in average people is the attitude exactly most likely to conform to the desires of the powerful – cynicism is obedience.
Optimism, by contrast, especially optimism which is neither foolish nor silent, can be revolutionary. Where no one believes in a better future, despair is a logical choice, and people in despair almost never change anything. Where no one believes a better solution is possible, those benefiting from the continuation of a problem are safe. Where no one believes in the possibility of action, apathy becomes an insurmountable obstacle to reform. But introduce intelligent reasons for believing that action is possible, that better solutions are available, and that a better future can be built, and you unleash the power of people to act out of their highest principles. Shared belief in a better future is the strongest glue there is: it creates the opportunity for us to love one another, and love is an explosive force in politics.
Great movements for social change always begin with statements of great optimism.”
Teaching people about how the political system works and ultimately how to change it is my great statement of optimism.
Politics 101
I am going to let you in on a [not-so] secret: the system is rigged.
Many of us would like to hope that on election day people go to the polls, cast their ballots, and whoever gets the most votes is elected. Then, that individual gets into their elected position and serves their constituents by voting for what is best for the district and the country. However, too often this isn't true.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t fantastic people who are running for office, and representing you both on a local and national level. However, the system itself is designed so it is a lot harder for those people to get elected and remain in office.
None of this is meant to discourage you. In fact, it is the opposite. By taking a critical look at how our system works (and doesn’t work), you can be a part of a cross-partisan group of individuals working to change the system to represent the people.
Here I will be taking a look at how campaigns work, polarization in politics, and how organizations are trying to close the expectation gap between political ideals and how politics actually works.
How Campaigns Work
Running a campaign is hard work! Whether it is a national campaign or a local one, it involves hitting the ground, knocking on doors, sending emails, and call time.
In a national campaign, there is a whole “Advance Team,” which travels ahead of the candidate to prepare for campaign events. There are some great books on political advance teams and to what makes these events successful. All the details are planned at a campaign event, even down to putting out less chairs than you are expected to need so when people arrive you have to put out MORE chairs so it looks like your event was more successful than planned. That way you don’t have the embarrassment of unfilled seats in photos of your event.
In addition, running for office is expensive. The average cost of a winning Senate race is over $10M and for a House Race $1.6M dollars. For candidates who aren’t independently wealthy, this means a lot of fundraising. Campaigns usually reserve call time for contacting high-level donors (Elizabeth Warren famously did the opposite and used her call time to call small donors). Larger campaigns usually employ a full-time Call Manager to segment phone lists for the candidate to call. However, this fundraising doesn’t stop once a candidate is elected. RepresentUS states that Federal politicians spend on average 3-7 hours per day fundraising from donors in order to win re-election.
Political Microtargeting
Recently I had the opportunity to guest lecture at my alma mater about how to micro-target your political campaign to maximize your donations and your chances of getting elected.
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy which uses a person’s individual data to target them with information to which they may be receptive. It is a well-known strategy in the marketing world and has been applied by for-profit companies for decades. If you have ever wondered why you receive specific ads on your social media channels, microtargeting is why.
Political microtargeting takes it a step future, where “information about voters -- like the charitable donations they make, the type of credit card they use and the Congressional district they live in -- is combined with voter registration records, and the result allows campaigns to send certain types of messages to voters.” It is the reason why I, as a young female, may receive targetted emails with pro-choice messaging, while my mother, a retired teacher, may receive ads about the education system.
Political microtargeting isn’t new, but the ability to target minuscule sections of the electorate with specific political messaging using big data is a recent development. Big data is specifically how you can utilize a computer to analyze extremely large sets of data in order to reveal trends and make assumptions about consumer behavior.
The beginning of the true political microtargeting movement was founded on two pieces of legislation, the 1993 National Voter Registration Act and the 2002 Help America Vote Act. The National Voter Registration Act made it so individuals could register to vote when obtaining a driver’s license, and the Help America Vote Act mandated the creation of a national voter registry. Between these two pieces of legislation, there was now a national voter registry where all the information necessary for someone’s driver’s license was now linked together.
George W. Bush used political microtargeting to turn out undecided voters who were leaning Democrat by rebranding himself as a “compassionate conservative” and converting them into Republican voters. Since that point, microtargeting has only become more finetuned. Barack Obama’s campaign used social media and email in to turn out young voters in waves. By the end of the 2016 election, President Trump’s campaign stated they had achieved 3,000 individual data points per voter which allowed them to target every person on an individual basis. Brad Parscale said the Trump campaign was using over 150,000 variations of ads on social media per day.
By microtargeting your campaign, you are able to convert voters for cents on the dollar, but that doesn’t mean microtargeting is universally supported among voters. In a recent poll by Gallup,
However, political microtargeting isn’t going away anytime soon. The following section will give you insight into how campaigns target voters online.
Digital Campaigning
A strong email list is the bread and butter of any winning political campaign. Email is where the money comes from. I made it a point to subscribe to the email lists of candidates across the political spectrum for this campaign cycle, and there are certain things winning campaigns do.
Segment their email lists.
House File v. Prospecting File
The Prospecting File is the list you are onboarding or people who haven’t taken action for your candidate, and the House File is individuals who have donated or taken action
One of the reasons that it is difficult for newcomers to run against incumbents (in addition to name recognition) is that they have to build a House File from scratch, while their opponent can use the list they previously established
Small Donor v. Large Donor
Don’t send a small donor an invite to a $2,500 a plate dinner and don’t send an email to a large donor with a $25 ask.
Issue Segmented Email
One thing campaigns often do is send ‘issue surveys’ to their list to find out what issues matter to their constituents. A campaign can then re-segment the list and send emails to individuals based on their specific interests in order get them to donate or turn out on election day
Different styles of emails
Email from the Candidate: Usually the campaign sends a candidate email if there is a specific ‘issue,’ such as a holiday, tragedy, or opportunity to celebrate. In addition, many campaigns have candidates do updates from ‘on the road’ in order to make the content more dynamic.
Email from the Spouse (if they are married)
Email from Campaign Staff (Usually the Campaign Manager or Fundraising Director)
Pure fundraising ask (Headline: We have until Midnight to raise $1M! Can you help?)
Non-fundraising ask such as signing up to volunteer or sharing a clip on social media
Issue Survey or Request to Add Your Name to a Petition
Timely. If the candidate fails to respond to a relevant news piece or responds too late, it can damage the campaign
The email manager can then look at the analytics of the emails to determine what is most successful. For larger campaigns, they usually A/B test emails to test the effectiveness of different aspects (different color donate buttons, headlines, format, etc). The CPC (or cost per click) and the open rate can provide a lot of insight for how campaigns should structure their emails going forward. For example, if the open rate for emails form the spouse is much higher than emails from the finance manager, a campaign may ask the spouse to write a fundraising email.
In addition to email, social media has transformed the ways that elections are won. Social media platforms are constantly having to evolve how they monitor political content. After 2016, Facebook made it mandatory for paid political ads to have a “Paid for By” indicator. In addition, to boost political content, you have to be recognized by Facebook. This process includes:
Uploading a Government ID
Submitting your address and answering questions (for instance people who lived on your street)
Being mailed a physical letter with a code to a US-based address
Entering the code into Facebook
For me, the whole process took about 2 weeks to become a recognized political poster.
There are several types of ads that are common to see politicians run:
Introducing the Candidate
Opposition Ads Against the Opponent
Issue Specific: Usually if there is usually attached to a breaking news story.
Issue Surveys
Ads to grow the email list
These ads are usually designed such as “Wish the President Happy Birthday” or “Tell Rep. _____ you support her decision about ______.” When your email is added, you are entered into the Prospecting email list in order to try and grow you into a campaign donor.
If you are interested in learning more about political advertisements, I recommend checking out the Facebook Ad Archive. This is a comprehensive database of all ads running on Facebook (and Instagram) including the images, copy, when the ad was run, how much was spent, and basic information about the target audience.
Dangers of Polarization
If you scroll through social media, chances are you mostly see one political narrative. Sure, you may have some friends and family with different political opinions, but overall, we often surround ourselves with people who think similarly to how we do. Social media echo chambers are a real thing. Blue Feed, Red Feed, from the Wall Street Journal, was created to show side by side what liberal and conservative news feeds look like. With microtargeting, campaigns are further able to define what type of news we see, and therefore what your very beliefs become.
However, there are some strong indicators that Americans are not nearly as divided as we think. In June 2020, Beyond Conflict released the report America’s Divided Mind, specifically covering polarization in politics. Below are some of the findings.
Americans incorrectly believe that members of the other party dehumanize, dislike, and disagree with them about twice as much as they actually do.
In addition, Democrats and Republicans are likely to believe we are further apart than we actually are on the issues. This decreases cross-partisan opportunities to work together for better solutions, even though there is a strong amount of overlap between the two parties.
Since politicians are constantly having fundraising for re-election, they need to stay in the good graces of the national party. If a politician votes outside of party lines, the party may choose to primary the individual and support an opponent who runs against them in the future. I once met with a Member of Congress who described voting outside of his party and then hiding in his office underneath his desk with the lights off because he was too scared to face the House Whip after the vote.
But this polarization doesn’t only happen online or in the halls of Congress. It happens at the dinner table. Ever had an awkward Thanksgiving dinner conversation about politics? I certainly have. That is why one of my friends and I collaborated on a guide for Developing and Maintaining Bipartisan Friendships. While it isn’t feasible for every relationship, if you are committed to friendships across the aisle, this can be a helpful starting point. In addition, organizations such as Braver Angels, National Conversation Project, Civic Health Project, and Millennial Action Project are working to decrease affective polarization and create post-partisan solutions for our country going forward.
So What’s the Problem with Politics?
So we have talked through what campaigning looks like and the problem with polarization, but what’s the actual problem with politics? Why doesn’t it run as it should? There are a few big problems that stand out. For starters, I recommend watching this video from RepresentUS about legalized corruption in the political system.
Lobbying
One huge problem is the influence of lobbying on politicians. Now, not all lobbying is bad. I have traveled to Capitol Hill and met with my Members of Congress to speak about causes I care about. People attending Hill Days and calling up their Members of Congress are not the types of lobbyists I am talking about. I am talking about the billions of dollars spent to influence how Members of Congress vote. Special interest lobbyists make donations to politicians (often bundled with other friends, colleagues, and organizations) which are delivered to the campaign in one large lump sum. Should a politician vote against the special interest group, these funds are used to run opposition ads against the candidate.
Another problem with lobbying is the concept of the revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms. It is a common practice for lobbying firms to offer high paying jobs to former Members of Congress, who then in turn become lobbyists and influence their former friends and colleagues. After all, in a cacophony of voices, the one who is easiest to hear is the voice of a friend, especially one with large purse strings who will help your reelection campaign.
The Electoral College
We don’t live in a direct democracy. When you go to the ballot box and cast your vote on election day, it isn’t the compilation of all individual votes which elects the President. When a candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state, the electoral votes for that particular state are then awarded to a particular candidate. Each state has a different number of electoral votes, and proponents of the Electoral College argue it protects the rights of smaller rural states to not be subject to the wills of the majority coastal elite.
A candidate can win the popular vote by a large margin, but still lose the Electoral College and thus the election. This is done by winning strategic states which push one candidate over the electoral college threshold. The first example of a contested election happened in 1824 when 4 candidates split the Electoral College. Despite Andrew Jackson winning the popular vote, the House awarded the Presidency to John Quincy Adams. The 2000 Election between Bush and Gore spurred a Supreme Court Case which ultimately decided the election when the electoral votes from Florida were awarded to Bush, despite a popular vote in favor of Gore. The 2016 election similarly saw Hillary Clinton win the popular vote, but Donald Trump win the Electoral College.
Over the past 200 years, 700 different proposals have been introduced into Congress to reorganize or eliminate the Electoral College. While the Electoral College will likely not go away any time soon, one recent proposal which has received a lot of traction is Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). RCV allows voters to rank their top candidates, as opposed to casting an all-or-nothing vote. This makes it easier for third party candidates to become viable for higher levels of office (incorporating new ideas into government). Additionally, if an individual’s top choice is not mathematically viable, their vote will then transfer to their second choice candidate. This ensures that third-party candidates don't “spoil” elections, a criticism many third party candidates faced in the 2016 election. RepresentUS is one of the leading organizations working on the movement for Ranked Choice Voting.
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is the process of drawing the political map to favor your parti’s future election prospects. And I want to be very clear here: Both parties gerrymander. FiveThirtyEight had a great example where they showing how they could gerrymander a district to reach certain election results. Heavily gerrymandered maps can be recognized by their lines which intentionally exclude certain areas and loop into others to achieve certain election results.
The Washington Post created the following graphic r to show how Gerrymandering really works. Because district lines are not drawn by impartial groups (instead they are drawn with with partisan ideologies in mind), this impacts how elections are won.
Political Activism: How to Make a Difference
So now that we have talked through the problems of politics and campaigns, here is how you can make a difference. Some of these concepts have been previously highlighted in my post introduction to political activism, and others are entirely new.
1. Vote
If you have the ability to vote, do it. Plain and simple. So many individuals in the United States are kept from voting, so if you have the ability to vote it is your responsibility to do so. Your vote matters. Here are 10 elections that were decided by a single vote.
Register to vote here. If you are already registered, check your registration here. I don’t care if you already know you are registered to vote, make it a habit of checking your voter registration before every election. Too often, voter purges happen (especially in Black and Brown communities) and people show up to vote on Election Day and they have been removed from the system. There is a lot of great work being done to protect the rights of voters, from lobbying for same day voter registration, to automatic registration, to making Election Day a national holiday, but we have a long way to go until everyone is able to exercise their right to vote.
While some people prefer voting in person on Election Day, I am a big fan of voting absentee (aka voting ahead of time and mailing in my ballot). This allows me to research all of the candidates and propositions and have my research infront of me when I cast my ballot. Especially now that we are in a pandemic, there is a movement for a lot of states to use absentee ballots as a preferred method of voting. However, if you do go and vote in person on Election Day, STAY IN LINE. If you are in line by the time the polls close, you are entitled to vote, even if you are still in line.
2. Make it Easier for Others to Vote
Now that you have committed to voting, the next step is making it easier for other people to vote.
A great first step is encouraging your friends and family to vote. Too often, voters have become disenfranchised and believe their vote doesn't matter so they don’t cast their ballot. Break the cycle and make it easier for others. Drive your elderly friends and family to the polls (or help them register absentee!), talk about what is on the ballot, go to City Council and advocate for more polling stations in your city.
Last election, one of my friends hosted a Proposition Party, where she had friends from different backgrounds come together and discuss the merits of each of the different propositions. If you don’t feel like you have the expertise for that, host a voter registration party, aka invite your friends over for dinner and help them register to vote. You could even add some political themed stacks or stick with good old-fashioned apple pie.
Want to take it a step further? Volunteer as a poll working in your city. It isn’t glamorous work, but a shortage of poll workers means less polling stations. It is a great way to support civic engagement, see democracy in action, meet your neighbors, and you get paid.
3. Hold Your Representatives Accountable
Your Representatives are accountable to you, their constituents. Show up and remind them of that.
Letter writing and form letters have become a popular way to contact your legislators. Participating in this type of activation is great, as someone in the office is required to track all of the incoming communication and respond accordingly. The more constituents who submit letters on a certain topic, the more likely the topic will be recognized as important to the district. However, when you submit a form letter, customize itit. If you don’t, the staff can reply to every letter with the same form response. Customizing the letter ensures that the staff has to read every letter and adjust their response accordingly.
If you prefer in-person engagements, show up at your Representative’s town halls. This is a great way to hear your Representative speak and ask questions. In addition, as constituents, you have a right to meet with your Representative. If you can gather a group of concerned citizens, contact your Representative’s office and schedule a meeting on a particular topic. It may take a while, but is a great way to get involved in the civic landscape.
Another easy way to hold your politicians accountable is contacting their office via phone. This one sounds daunting, but it is actually super easy. You can locate the number for your Representative on their website, or through the Congressional Switchboard. Here is a sample script.
You: [Dial 202-224-3121] [Note: My Shirt has 225 as opposed to 224. 225 is for the House of Representatives and 224 is for the Senate]
Switchboard Operator: Congressional Switchboard, how may I direct your call?
You: Hello, my name is [your name]. Will you please direct me to Congressperson [your Representative's name] office?
Switchboard Operator: Yes. please hold.
Receptionist: Congressperson _____'s office. How may I help you?
You: Hello. My name is [your name] and I live in the Congressperson's district. I am calling because [eg. I am deeply passionate about continued funding for Planned Parenthood. I care about protecting people with pre-existing conditions and want the Congressperson to protect that right)
[You may stop at this point, or if you have a specific bill you would like the Congressperson to support, note it at this time. It will be listed as H.R. ### or S. ###]
Receptionist: Thank you. I have made a note of it here.
You: I appreciate the work that the Congressperson does. Can I leave my contact information to follow up if the Congressperson chose to support [bill number]?
Receptionist: Sure
You: Great, my email address is [your email address] and my phone number is [your phone number]. Please feel free to follow up at any time and thank you for your time.
4. Get Involved Locally
While the above bullet focused on your national representatives, it is just as important to get involved locally. Local politics affects your life on a daily basis. Everything from the potholes on your street to funding of the police is decided at a local level. Show up at your city council meetings to get an idea of who the players are and speak at these meetings.
If you don’t like how your city is being run, run for local office yourself! Run For Something is helping thousands of candidates run for office at all levels of government and provides free training and resources. If you aren’t ready to make that leap, volunteer on a campaign, or for civic organizations you are passionate about.
Think globally but act locally. The League of Women Voters, National Organization for Women, Sierra Club, ACLU, Black Lives Matter, all of these groups we hear about on a National Level have state or city chapters.
5. Get Informed
I have previously published a list of 5 Books Every 20 Something Should Read Before the Next Election and 8 Podcasts to Make You an Informed Citizen. Getting informed about politics isn’t always an easy task, but it is important to do the work.
The best booklist I can recommend to understand the current situation in American and how we move forward is 17 books by black authors that are shaping our conversation about race.
For a podcast, I recommend It Could Happen Here, which covers the dangers of a potential civil war if we don’t get our act together.
6. Consume a Balanced Media Diet
It is pretty rare for people to consume a balanced media diet. Just like our real-life diet, you need to have different sources. The reality is, all news has a bias. Check out different sources to see how media portrays the same story differently. AllSides is a great source for providing multiple perspectives on the same story and promoting civil discourse across the aisle.
7. Track Legislation that Matters to You
If you are going to call up your Congressperson to talk about legislation, it is probably good to know what legislation is currently pending. My favorite app is called Countable, which you can use either on your phone or via the website. On the app you can customize what issues you care about, vote yay or nay to make your voice heard, track the progress of the bill, and find out how your representative voted on it. GovTrack is another great source for tracking legislation online.
8. Fund Businesses and Causes that Matter to You
If you have the financial ability, contributing financially to businesses and causes you care about can have a huge impact. For example, we have seen a phenomenal movement committed to supporting businesses run by people of color. Check out this great resource list from Sarah Davis of FinImpact on how to support Black-Owned Businesses.
In addition, down-ballot candidates have been hit hard by the current recession. If you want to see a change of leadership in local politics, funding down-ballot candidates can help themconnect with voters and ultimately make a difference.
9. Know Your Rights If You Protest
The ACLU has put together a guide of what rights you have as a protestor. The above link includes specifics over if you are stopped by the police, if you can be searched, photography and more. Additionally, write the number of trusted individuals on your arm in Sharpie. This can be friends, family, or the number for your local Lawyer's Guild. When your phone runs out of battery at the protest (and it will run out of battery) it is important to have immediate access to those phone numbers if anything happens.
In addition, take care of your body. Make sure to carry water with you, snacks to keep your blood sugar up, essential medicine, and a rechargeable phone battery.
10. Bring other people along for the journey with you
Activism is a life-long journey. It doesn’t stop when we get minor victories (although celebrating them is welcome!). Instead, it is a lifetime of learning, failing, getting back up again, and fighting for what is right. It isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be frustrating as hell. It can make you want to throw your hands up and stop. But by bringing other people along for the journey with you, there becomes a community of mutual support and the impact of the movement can only grow.