Enviro Groups Go Door-to-Door to Reach Swing Voters
Environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters are mounting get-out-the-vote operations of unprecedented vigor and sophistication this election year. They are targeting what the Sierra Club calls “infrequent environmental voters,” folks concerned about natural resources and environmental degradation who do not typically make it to the polls. (Surely there are none of those folks among the Grist readership!) Due to changing campaign-finance laws, the focus this year has shifted from television advertising to direct contact. Groups are busing members from across the nation to knock on doors in swing states and using poll data, voting records, and club membership rosters to target the households most likely to contain moveable voters. Perhaps the only thing Bush backers and enviros agree on this election season is, in the words of Bush campaign spokesperson Terry Holt, “The president’s policies on the environment are unparalleled.”
