Choose what doors to knock on (and what to say)
Defining the canvassing program is a central component of developing your field plan. Any doorknocking that you do should be determined by this plan, which is all driven by the number of votes you need to win (in a partisan campaign) or your goals for increasing voter turnout (in a nonpartisan campaign). For a much more detailed description of the components of a voter contact (field) plan, check out our Neighborhood Voter Contact Plan organizing tool.
A canvassing program can deploy campaign workers and volunteers in a given neighborhood to directly appeal to voters. Going door to door brings campaigning to the streets and provides a personal touch. Canvassing is done to identify voters' preferences as well as to persuade undecided voters. A canvass shows the voter a campaign in action and gives an impression of momentum. Being visible in a community also motivates a campaign's supporters and serves to unnerve the opposition.
The goals of the doorknock will be different depending on what phase of a campaign you are in (registering voters, identifying voter preferences, persuading voters, or get-out-the-vote), as will which doors you choose to knock on. Will you go to every house in a precinct? Undecideds only? People with a consistent voter history? People who need more contact to be persuaded to turn out? People who care about a specific issue?
Effective canvassing requires extensive advance work in the areas to be walked, and considerable time should be spent determining the best routes to canvass; walking in the opposition's strong areas is a waste of time and will ensure that a volunteer canvasser will not return in the future. The campaign needs to look at the makeup of the households and try to have canvassers reflect the areas in which they are working.
After answering these questions, based on your field plan, you can make strategic decisions about the content of the conversations you and your volunteers will have at the door, based on the specific audience.