The Science of Getting out the Vote

Almost every political candidate establishes a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) strategy early in the campaign. This strategy might include elements such as direct mailings, town halls, door-knocking, and telephone-banking. While most GOTV campaigns share these same basic components, research has shown that small differences in each of these elements can make the difference between winning and losing on Election Day.

Over the past decade, psychologists, political scientists, and behavioral scientists have combined a scientific understanding of human behavior and decision making with research on GOTV efforts to determine the best strategies for a campaign. For example, research presented at Stanford University indicates that tweaking the message of a GOTV phone script to encourage voters to form concrete Election Day plans that include voting is much more effective than simply encouraging them to vote.

Additionally, some GOTV efforts try to get voters to the polls by warning them that turnout is expected to be low. However, experiments have shown that doing the exact opposite — presenting an optimistic view that turnout is expected to be high — actually gets more people to the polls. Psychologists believe this is because, as social beings, humans are influenced by what others are doing.

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