Any one with election canvassing experience?

[ColinRobinsonsFart]

I have sat watching local labour canvassers walk up and down my street - one had a clipboard and was directing them.
They saw me
They walked past
They went next door who is on holiday...

Am I blacklisted? Why didn't they knock on my door?

Oooh I wanted my two minutes!

Essentially, they target people who are swing voters; if they are sure you will or won't vote for them, they probably don't care. I presume they get the info from the last election, but that's a long time ago.

Could be if they’ve knocked before. Could be if you’ve filled in one of those ‘tell us what you think’ surveys. Could be if you’ve contacted the candidate.

They shouldn’t be able to get the info from the last election (if you mean who you actually voted for).

As PP have said though, maybe you’ve filled in something online or answered a survey at some point?

Or (and possibly more likely) they’re just going through the motions and don’t really care if they speak to potential constituents. That way they can (honestly, lol) say that “the issue never comes up on the doorstep”

I have done canvassing,

Most political parties have lists of members, and lists of people who have previously said they would vote for them.

The parties obviously don't know how people actually vote.

So if they are canvassing they may be specifically knocking on unknowns or don't knows.

Are you a member of a political party? Have you told a canvasser before who you usually support?

Did you vote in the last General Election?

Incumbents and candidates will have access for a small fee to something called the 'Marked Register' which lists everyone on the electoral roll for the area and whether they voted or not in the previous election. All the larger political parties make use of these. With limited time and resources, it makes sense to target people who actually drag their arses to the polling station / use postal votes.

Have you previously been canvassed?

Political parties are allowed to collect and keep canvas data for a certain amount of time (and they sometimes really push and strain the limits of the DPA, tbh). They tend to canvass the 'Definites and Probables' ('Ds & Ps'), and the likely swing voters (as pp said). A swing voter for a Lib Dem might be someone down as 'Soft Conservative'.

Have you ever signed a local petition or otherwise made your views on an issue known?

Some candidates and their parties get copies of these and go through them in order to target likely voters on certain issues / themes. Some candidates even promote their own petitions (always look at the small print!)

Ah.... my husband is a member of the Labour Party

And I recently filled in an online form .... and I was honest!

Thanks folks!