Door knocking still key way of interacting with voters

It''s becomeHarjit Sajjan's daily routine this election campaign.

The Liberal candidate for Vancouver South is spending hours, working his way up and down streetsknocking on doors.

The message he deliversat each door is the same: "I grew up in the neighbourhood and I was a Vancouver police officer and this is where I worked."

He is taking all his years of persistence as a police officer including knocking on many doors and applying it to politics. On the doorstep is the way he has decided he can best connect with voters.

A slim majority of voters in Vancouver South chose Conservative last election which is why the Liberals have targeted it and several ridings in Surrey as key to their success this time around.

Personal connection

And face-to-face interactions are still a big part of the overall Liberal strategy, providing a chance for voters to connect on a personal level with politicians, who are often described as removed or living in another world.

"The effect of talking face-to-face with someone who shares the same values is still very influential," said UBC political scientist Maxwell Cameron.

It can be one way to cut through the avalanche of high-tech social media and e-mail campaigns, not to mention newspaper, television and radio ads.

They that can overwhelm many voters, especially during a record-long campaign.

NDP candidate Carol Baird Ellan, running in the new riding of Burnaby North-Seymour, is a former provincial court judge.

She said she embraces the chance to spend a lot of time interacting face-to-face with voters tooffer information they can't get from signs or ads.

"Right now we have 10 debates scheduled, but if we are not doing that we are out canvassing from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.every night," she said. "Maybe people have made up their minds, they want change, but maybe they haven't and need to hear a bit more about the NDP platform."

Micro-targeting

But, UBC's Cameron adds, there is another technique at play in this election.

"What we are learning from U.S. campaigns is micro-targeting. Knowing a lot about a person when you meet them at the door or interact with them on the phone."

Micro-targeting involves a party gathering as much information as possible about voters. That includes knowing what television shows they have watched, organizations they have joined and what they have looked at online.

The Conservative Party has invested heavily in this technique of campaigning, focussing less on the time-consuming process of going door-to-door and more on having dozens of volunteerscalling as many people in a riding as possible.

Conservatives work phones

"The Conservatives are working the phones very heavily," added Cameron. "They are really focusing in on the leader and message from party headquarters. They have taken some of the top players and candidates are being discouraged [from showing]up to all-candidates meetings."

As for the Conservative party's success on the doorsteps, the CBC put in requests to campaign with several candidates but none would allow a camera to followthem to see how effective they were.

Wai Young, the Vancouver South candidate, did agree to an interview and she talked about what she has seen at the doors.

"What I hear from people is really warming, what they are saying is we are doing a really good job," she said. "Although voters hear about the change message. But when we push back on what change are they looking for, they aren't able to articulate that."

Guaranteed votes?

Harjit Sajjan knows despite his track record and street credibility that face-to-face interaction itself doesn't guarantee a vote.

After having a lengthy conversation with Sajjan about housing prices, the Liberal vision for the future and the community overall, one voter on their doorstep still wasn't sure he was going to mark an X beside his name.

"I like him as the Liberal candidate. Seems to be a nice guy," said the voter afterwards, as Sajjan diligently moved on to the next block. "But I'm looking mostly at the leader and I still haven't made up my mind."