Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout / Edition 3

by Donald P. Green, Alan S. Gerber

Overview

"The most important element in every election is getting voters to the polls—these get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts make the difference between winning and losing office.

With the first two editions of Get Out the Vote, Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber broke ground by introducing a new scientific approach to the challenge of voter mobilization that profoundly influenced how campaigns operate. Get Out the Vote has become the reference text for those who manage campaigns and study voter mobilization.

In this expanded and updated edition, Green and Gerber incorporate data from more than 100 new studies, which shed new light on the costeffectiveness and efficiency of various campaign tactics, including door-todoor canvassing, email, direct mail, and telephone calls. Two new chapters focus on the effectiveness of registration drives and messaging tactics.

The new Get Out the Vote will be available as the country gears up for the 2016 presidential campaign. This readable, practical guide on voter mobilization is sure to be an important resource for consultants, candidates, and grassroots organizations, as well as a valuable teaching tool in courses on campaigns and elections.

Praise for Previous Editions:

"Green and Gerber have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in... Get Out the Vote, which is bound to become a bible for politicians and activists of all stripes." —Alan Krueger in the New York Times " Get Out the Vote shatters conventional wisdom about GOTV." —Hal Malchow in Campaigns and Elections "Green and Gerber's recent book represents important innovations in the study of turnout." — Political Science Review "Green and Gerber have provided a valuable resource for grassroots campaigns across the spectrum." — National Journal

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815725688
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/30/2015
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Donald P. Green is a professor of political science at Yale University, where he has taught for more than a decade. An expert on elections and campaign finance, he has written widely on public opinion and political behavior and is coauthor of Partisan Hearts and Minds: Political Parties and the Social Identities of Voters (Yale, 2000).

Alan S. Gerber is a professor of political science at Yale University. He has published extensively on campaigns, elections, and representation in journals such as the American Political Science Review.

Table of Contents

Preface     vii
Introduction: Why Voter Mobilization Matters     1
Evidence versus Received Wisdom     12
Door-to-Door Canvassing: Shoe Leather Politics     26
Leaflets: Walk, Don't Talk     46
Direct Mail: Postal Service as Campaign Staff     55
Phone Banks: Politics Meets Telemarketing     74
Electronic Mail: Faster, Cheaper, but Does It Work?     97
Using Events to Draw Voters to the Polls     108
Using Mass Media to Mobilize Voters     120
What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Next     135
Appendixes
Technical Results of Door-to-Door Canvassing Experiments     165
Technical Results of Direct Mail Experiments     175
Technical Results of Phone-Calling Experiments     188
Notes     201
Index     219

Editorial Reviews

Get Out the Vote is my go-to resource for all things GOTV. Every political operative needs to read this book.
—Blaise Hazelwood, founder and president, Grassroots Targeting, and former political director, Republican National Committee

Get Out the Vote provides real insight for any political professional and even those activists who strive to find a winning edge. It will transform your performance. My only regret is that the left has access to this insight!”
—David M. Carney, CEO, Norway Hill Associates; former campaign manager for Gov. Rick Perry and for Sen. Robert Dole

Get Out the Vote is essential reading for anyone working in (or researching the effects of) political campaigns. This new version offers critical new insights on voter contact developed since the second edition, covering new topics campaigners can’t afford to miss.
—Kevin Collins, director of research, Analyst Institute

Praise for Previous Editions

Get Out the Vote shatters conventional wisdom about GOTV.
—Hal Malchow, campaign consultant to the Democratic National Committee, and Sen. John Kerry, in Campaigns and Elections

Green and Gerber have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in . . . Get Out the Vote, which is bound to become a bible for politicians and activists of all stripes.
—Alan Krueger in the New York Times

The sheer number and scale of the experiments they’ve run make Get Out the Vote! a signally important tool to campaigners trying to figure out how best to campaign.
—The American Prospect

From the Publisher

Get Out the Vote! is the rare book that manages to package cutting-edge social science on a keenly important topic in a completely approachable manner for all audiences. I’ve used this book for courses from beginning undergraduate lectures to graduate seminars. Some students are fascinated by the mechanics of campaigns and the range of different voter mobilization techniques examined. Some are struck by the inferential advantages of the field experiments that Green and Gerber champion. All appreciate the economical, non-technical presentation. And, the handful who have gone on to work on campaigns or run for office always tell me they consulted Get Out the Vote! during their races.

Jonathan Krasno

I have adopted this book as required reading for my upper division campaigns and elections classes since it was first published in 2004. In the absence of careful monitoring by campaign management of the kind spelled out in this book, vendors of voter outreach services have every incentive to lie, exaggerate, and over promise. Reading Green and Gerber, students learn about the importance of measurement, monitoring and testing of all campaign efforts. They are also taught a more general and very sobering lesson of adult life: you can go to work every morning, thinking your efforts matter, when they really don't. And that's why careful measurement and testing are so important.

James G. Gimpel

Green and Gerber’s book represents important innovations in the study of turnout.

Political Science Review

Green and Gerber have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in. .. Get Out the Vote, which is bound to become a bible for politicians and activists of all stripes.

Alan Krueger

Green and Gerber have provided a valuable resource for grassroots campaigns across the spectrum.

National Journal

Get Out the Vote shatters conventional wisdom about GOTV.

Hal Malchow