Surprised at the lack of door knocking by candidates

[Fourchairs]

Not one single politician has knocked on our door. I am a little irritated by this. We have a Labour MP and a Labour run council. I think they are taking our constituency for granted. Anyone else surprised by the lack of canvassing? Or maybe they only actually knock on doors when they are being filmed for TV! Maybe they are all scared of our reactions!

We live in area known as a bell wether seat. We have only had Labour a couple of times (currently Conservative obviously). I think the tories have given up. No one else is trying either.

Safe Tory seats don’t exist any more.

The election was called at very short notice

The conservatives in my area (safe tory seat) hadn't even elected a candidate until about 3 weeks ago despite the current MP resigning 10 months ago

The Labour party aren't campaigning in my town and instead they are pouring resources into neighbouring areas where they think they can win

Lib Dems are leafleting hard but they haven't knocked for me once even though they have me down as a supporter (im not)

I agree with all of this. If you genuinely want a conversation with your candidate, it's pretty easy to get that, but people seem more interested in getting the chance to have a go at someone on their doorstep, as if politicians and volunteers are our personal on-demand whipping boys.

I think in many cases it's just a self-justifying excuse to avoid having to put any thought into voting. "If they're not going to woo me why should I bother." It puts me in mind of all those Leave voters who absolutely definitely would have voted Remain if only Remainers hadn't said mean things about them on the internet.

But that’s not what’s happening in my new constituency. It’s a Labour target seat and as of today, 10 days before the election, there has been not one single leaflet or doorknock. Fwiw the candidate did not respond to an email enquiry I sent him either.

Oh I don't know, I think there's a few. Unless the sitting MP gets caught molesting sheep or something - but even then there's probably enough postal votes cast already to get him home.

The Financial Times front page, "Conservatives lose a third of their voters since January, survey finds."

Independent front page, "Tories question Sunak's leadership as he resists calls to suspend betting scandal suspects."

They can't be pleased with how this week is kicking off can they.

I’m surprised anyone wants to vote for the Tories after more than a decade in power, I haven’t seen any improvements. Everything seems to have gone downhill so why would I want more of the same?

Frankly I am getting pissed off by the local Lib Dems. They have door knocked several times. The first guy was lovely, we had a chat, then he basically told me I was irritating for mentioning sex based rights and it wasn't a proper issue.

They have put a leaflet through the door every day, and it's just Tory bashing. Fine, up to a point, but much of the information is rhetoric and inaccurate. I want to know what THEY are going to do and how.

I am in South West Surrey, big target for the Lib Dems

Gosh it sometimes feels relentless near me! Mind you I don't think I've had a Conservative knock. Lib Dem mostly (we are a Labour area but Lib Dems a very close second). SW London.

@KnittedCardi

Agreed. I hate their leaflets

One thing Con and Lab agree on is that LibD campaigns are nasty

@Metempsychosis have you seen the video Lewis Goodall made there on Friday? Reform looking popular there too!

My jaw dropped when I watched that. John Hayes certainly puts in the hard yards to get his votes!

We're the same - though our constituency border been redrawn and we've moved to previous neighbouring constituency though it's still Labour seat.

We've only had one set of leaflets with post and that was Labour.

Previous election we've had Tory, Labour and few others knock or can be seen walking down the street - it's not usually the candidate themselves but people on their behalf. There's been nothing yet - and I already have my postal vote.

While it's Labour it wasn't a large majority last time - there are fewer signs out for parties even Labour this time. I assume they think it's in the bag here and not worth any effort..

The only leaflet I have had is LibDem and it was utterly unobjectionable.

Local Tory twat knocked on my parents door last night, despite an A3 sized "vote Labour" poster. God loves a trier!

From Alastair Campbells Twitter yesterday

JUST BEEN LEAKED NOTE BY HEAD OF TORY CAMPAIGN (the one standing in for the one on leave of absence courtesy of William Hill) MEMO ALL CANDIDATES … THE REALITY. 1. We cannot campaign on our record because nothing has improved since we took office. 2. The biggest change we made last Parliament was Brexit and we can’t campaign on that because the people who hated it hate it more and the people who liked it know we have ballsed it up. 3. We can’t campaign on our leaders because we have had five in eight years which suggests none of them were very good. 4. We can’t campaign on Labour being a risk to security and the economy because nobody can do worse than we have and anyway people seem to think @Keir_Starmer is pretty decent and he is for sure not Corbyn. 5. So LADS, all we have left is this … behave like we have lost, it’s all over bar the shouting, towel thrown in, and hope to God millions of people don’t bother to vote us out because they think somebody else will do it. I know it’s desperate and a bit anti-democratic but needs must. We’re shit and we know we are and so this is it!!! Fuck everything up. Crash the car. Make ourselves look even more unelectable and useless at campaigns. Willie Whitelaw used to talk about travelling the country stirring up apathy. That is all we have left. Do it. Talk up supermajority. I know it is meaningless but it is the only way to stop the superdefeat we all know we deserve. Cheers. Btw we’re having Sunday drinks 1pm. BYOB 🍾 🥂 ps new slogan. STAY AT HOME. DON’T VOTE. KEEP THE TORIES haha!!

We've had one candidate knock (the sitting Conservative MP - in a tory stronghold) we thoroughly believe she was enticed in by our 'Larry the Cat for PM' poster.

It's the first time we've had a door knock in 20+ years.

We've had Tory/Reform/Lib dem leaflets through. We have 8 candidates standing (probably because our MP is the health secretary) we normally get 3 or 4.

Fun times.

The LDs had to apologise for an inaccurate leaflet here! 😬

It’s non stop here , we are a past super safe conservative seat with a huge majority that’s one of the 4 target Green seats and the latest polls put the Greens ahead of the Tories . We get a Green Party leaflet most days and been door knocked multiple times - just had first Conservative leaflet today .

Advertising the room (if, by that I presume you mean the meeting) is hardly difficult. Put is out on social media, and people tell people. Put some posters up in the building and in the High Street. As local community centres and groups to advertise it.
I mean, they could even put it on one of the daily flyers that come through the door.
I've been to 3 hustings over previous elections and there was never a shortage or people turning up. Not sure why you think it would be an issue this time.

Security - fair enough, that is a sad reflection of current times, but politicians I see on TV seem to have security around them.

We have been running monthly drop in sessions for residents to hear their concerns and priorities, some months we get no one turning up, most months it is is one or two
I feel that is a completely different scenario though. I don't have a particular issue that I need an MP to look into for me, I want to make sure that I am making the best choice of person to represent me for the next 4 years.

Most local social media pages are politics free zones and people get deleted and banned, even for trying to engage and ask questions or provide information, let alone directly campaign.
I can't speak for anywhere else, but the local FB groups here allow people to ask questions of the politicians and allow the politicians to post on there. Only 2 of the candidates do though.

I agree with all of this. If you genuinely want a conversation with your candidate, it's pretty easy to get that, but people seem more interested in getting the chance to have a go at someone on their doorstep, as if politicians and volunteers are our personal on-demand whipping boys.

I think in many cases it's just a self-justifying excuse to avoid having to put any thought into voting.

Actually completely the opposite from me. It is because I do want to put some thought inot it, that I want to hear from the candidates.
I don't expect them to have the time to knock doors, but I do expect anyone serious enough to stand as a candidate, to make the effort to get information out to as many people as they can that are able to vote.

@NewName24 you talked about candidates booking a room for people to come and find out what they are offering. That is completely different to Hustings. Hustings are not organised by candidates or political parties, they usually set up through charities and churches, as you note from your previous elections. I would be amazed if there are none in your constituency as it is a standard part of a campaign.

I have just got back from one in my town. Only 3 candidates turned up out of 7. There were maybe 100 people in the room, most of whole were councillors, their families, and other local party members. That is in a town of around 20k, and most of the attendees were from outside the town.

When you have 6 weeks from announcing an election until polling day, and a large number of people postal vote, you need to communicate with as many as possible, as quickly as possible. The Royal Mail delivers a single electoral communication for each candidate free of charge. That has to be printed and provided to the Royal Mail in time to get to people before the postal votes. Slots with the electoral printers are limited. The point is to get a touch point with as many people as possible. If you hang around waiting to find out when any hustings might be held, you will not get the leaflets out in time.

If you are receiving more than one communication from any party, that party either has an army of local volunteers, or money to burn on postal delivery. We have neither.