Social distancing guidelines are forcing advocacy groups to create new ways to reach voters. Activists and advocates who planned to spend tens of millions of dollars on in-person interactions are quickly switching gears to have an impact before the November elections.
The Progressive Turnout Project said Thursday it would spend $2.9 million on a phone-bank initiative in response to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on its work.
The group intended to knock on 7.1 million doors before Election Day, but the coronavirus has obstructed its work. Now it plans to make 12 million phone calls in support of President Trump’s opponents.
“Phone banking has been proven to increase turnout by 2-3%,” said Executive Director Alex Morgan in a statement. “While that may sound small, that’s all Democrats need to flip Wisconsin, Michigan and other key battlegrounds.”
The group has reinforcements among advocacy groups largely stuck inside. The Women’s March, Democracy for America, Daily Kos, Newtown Action Alliance, Progressive Democrats of America, VoteRiders, the Democratic Coalition, and Indivisible Chicago have joined the group in its effort.
The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List switched its canvassing team, which had visited 500,000 homes, to a phone-bank operation in March, a spokeswoman said.
Activists also are being hampered in their efforts to stage protests, as they are nearly impossible to hold under the federal social distancing guidelines.
In the hot zone of New York City this week, anti-Trump protesters attempted to organize a rally against Mr. Trump in Times Square. Seven people showed up.
A leading nurses union has more successfully organized demonstrations of small clusters of protesters outside hospitals. The National Nurses Union, which counts 150,000 members, gathered in groups of fewer than 10 people at select HCA hospitals Thursday.
The nurses union argued that the hospitals, including six in Florida, North Carolina and Texas, did not adequately prepare for the pandemic and were unable to effectively protect nurses, and by extension their patients.
An HCA Healthcare spokesman said the hospitals are doing everything they can to equip their workers, and he accused the union of “trying to use this crisis to advance its own interest — organizing more members.”
The inability to conduct grassroots outreach means more spending on digital campaigning for the foreseeable future. On Wednesday, America First Action PAC said it would spend $10 million on TV ads attacking former Vice President Joseph R. Biden in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Last week, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced $67.1 million in initial advertising reservations for the election across six states.
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