Good topic. It is separate from any particular candidate.
Let’s trade stories on what works and what doesn’t.
In 7 precincts of a working class Chicago suburb that went 55% D for president I knocked on every single door several times. It took significant time evenings and weekends...but no more time than I now spend on internet places like FR.
I registered about 300 to vote. I met others who agreed with me and they also went door to door.
My most successful activity was giving people a choice of 3 petitions in the summer when there was no election:
Raise taxes
Keep taxes the same
Lower taxes
People respected me because I gave them a choice and did not just circulate one petition, my own preference.
The next election was a 3 way race between the Union Democrat slate, the GOPe slate of the governor, and the anti-GOPe conservative slate. We turned the area from 55% D to 65% for the conservative slate.
150 of the 300 I had registered to vote were Hispanic in an area that was heavily Hispanic (anchor babies all grown up).
I got 100% of the Hispanic vote (except 1 Puerto Rican on welfare). I got about 20 or 25% of the Black vote. Where I lost was among divorced and sexually active women who see the government as their safety net.
But subsequent to that the GOPe ran an extremely anti-Hispanic Attorney General for Governor. As county prosecutor and then as AG he framed a Hispanic for murder and the death penalty despite the facts that were extremely obvious that the pothead was only guilty of shoplifting and no use to the prosecution in his role of paid informant because he was such a pathetic liar. And of course, the AG did this to try to convince conservatives he was tough on crime.
So the area that went 65% conservative flipped and went 80% D.
I moved out of the area. A Black pastor’s wife (think Mrs Alan Keyes) took over the area. With the Union Democrats and GOPe supporting the same slate against the conservative slate, her slate won with 87% of the vote. She got 100% of the Hispanic vote as I had. She did much better with the Black vote than I did. She probably did better with the Asian vote than I did. She lost the white promiscuous women vote, as I did.
Then the GOP image flipped from pro-immigration to anti-immigration. The longtime Republican arch-conservative Congressman (100% ACU) was famous for being extremely pro-immigration. So the Republican image was pro-immigration. The Union Democrat image was anti-immigration. When the images flipped, the Republicans lost big time.
What can be learned from this is that voters can shift parties and are not locked into anyone party. This was especially true of immigrants who come in neutral to all political parties.
Hard work is required to get voters to shift your way
Hard work can be quickly destroyed by stupidity on the part of a candidate...or a movement that appears to be the image of the party.
I haven’t participated in things like this, but I have talked to people who have, and they say exactly what you have. You can have a big impact one on one if you do it right.
I may disagree with people on one subject, but I don’t have to be mean about it. Let that rest until an opportunity comes up to address it with them.
Like you said, give them choices and try to explain things so they can agree with you on common ground.
Good for you. I like the process you advocate here, and I salute you for doing it.