SPECIFIC CONSTITUENCIES: PERSUADING THE PERSUADABLES

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Simply put, in the most contested races today. seventy to eighty percent of voters are pretty much locked into their choices and definitely committed to voting. It is the other twenty to thirty percent that will make the difference.

Grassroots leaders both know people and know things. They can be "ifnluencers" within their social and professsional networks. One of the most important things grassroots organizations can do is support their members in engaging, educating, and influencing those they know. Grassroots orgnazations can be particularly impactful when they provide recognition, feedback, and support among their members in doing so.

In addition, there are particular constituencies within communities that are both more likely to be swing voters and persuadable constituencies, provided they are engaged on core values they hold. 

While not the only constituencies, this section describes several deserving of particular attention, particularly if there are members of the grassroots organization with particular ties to them.

When one becomes a parent, life changes. Time becomes more precious, for nurturing and simply for managing more household reponsibilities. New expenses require more attention to breadwinning to meet basic needs. Most important, the actual architecture of the brain changes, from thinking primarily in terms of "I" to now thinking in terms of "we."

Polls show that parents (and grandparents) rank parenting at the top of the list of core ways they define themselves, topping career, faith, class, gender, race, and party affiliation -- and it's not even close.

Polls also show they are most persuadable in terms of voting and particularly around parenting issues and concerns. This shows in the vote for President between 2020 and 2024, where 14 percent of parent voters changed their vote (much higher than for nonparents).

ParentsTogether has excellent resources on the persuadability of parents in voting, and Values to Votes has specific resources on how how to reach parents through their values about children and the policies that support them, provided in the resources seciton.

When looking at battleground states and their composition, it is clear that the shifts in rural and small town voting in Midwestern states has had a profound impact upon Presidential elections and on many Congressional ones.

While these rrural and small town communities were once considered core to the ecconomy and society, economic changes have created many challenges to sustaining that way of life. 

There are reasons that many residents feel at risk of being left behind in the economy and discounted in Washington, D.C. 

New emphases are needed in reaching agricultural and small town voters that speak to their values and concern for their way of life. 

Young people not only are the economic future of the country, but also new voters and the future electorate. They are looking to how government will support them and society as they build their careers and their own future families.

First-time young voters are least likely to identify with a particular party and often are the biggest swing voters. Moreover, their first votes often set their pattern of voting for many elections to come.

Engaging young voters has both immediate and long-term consequences. 

Those who provide care and help to others were recognized during the Covid-19 pandemic as being part of the nation’s “most essential workforce,” but they are needed not just during pandemics or national disasters. 

Including health care, child care, social workers, and educators, they represent one in six workers and voters today. They are only going to be in increasing demand in the future, and primarily rely upon public funding to employ them and do their jobs. Nursing home staff, hospital nurses’ assistants, home care providers, and child care workers are a major share of this workforce and among the lowest paid workers in society.

Candidates and campaigns seldom speak to them or what role government must play in recognizing their value and supporting their work. They have chosen their work because they care about and value the people they serve, but they also care about and value their own families and how they can provide for them.

These caregivers and helpers live in urban and rural communities, red and blue states, and vibrant and struggling communities. They can be a force in elections, not only with their own votes but with the votes of those they care for and serve. Moreover, attention to them can bring people together to appreciate and support the integral role government needs to play in supporting them, their own future families, the the people they serve.