pl
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Post by pl on Aug 16, 2024 17:09:50 GMT
Because that's politics. That's life. If you genuinely sent handwritten notes to voters, it may have not come across as professional, mature, or standard as the usual leaflets from recognised parties. People don't necessarily go to independent candidates 'on the first go'. Of course it's different for every voter. My mother is usually discouraged from supporting candidates who send obviously-well-produced leaflets on glossy paper thanks to thinking it's a needless waste of money to do anything elaborate like that. 15 years ago that was a very real issue - and I did prefer Risograph leaflets to glossies except for a single election address back then. However, times have changed. Full colour glossies are the same price as Risos (give or take) and can be available almost as quickly. Residents seem to be attaching more importance to "professional" than previously.
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Post by matureleft on Aug 16, 2024 17:09:55 GMT
Why did 3,000+ leaflets = 54 votes? Genuine question that I'm struggling with. Because it isn't a meaningful equation. Leaflets, as a piece of paper, do not lead to votes. They can help if they are of sufficient quality but other factors have been shown to be far more important. 1. Fairly obviously the party label is at the very least a shorthand indicator of the candidate and that's enough for quite a few voters. 2. Contact with voters. All research shows that meeting a reasonable candidate, of any party, makes a difference to voting intention. A handshake helps too. The candidate who meets the most voters can stand a very good chance (provided they are reasonable on the doorstep). 3. While second best to a candidate encounter, meeting a pleasant, courteous canvasser also helps both preference and likelihood to vote (absolutely critical in a low turnout local election). 4. If the candidate is already known for something else that's creditable that's gold. You'll note the emphasis on quality literature. That doesn't equate to expensive. A well laid out, easy to read leaflet focused on issues that people are interested in and stressing the quality of the candidate need not cost much and very glossy stuff, particularly in local elections, can be offputting.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:10:06 GMT
Why did 3,000+ leaflets = 54 votes? Genuine question that I'm struggling with. In the 2022 county council election I think I put out 10,000 leaflets across four months and got 65 votes. In the Michaelmas 2018 Oxford Union Secretary election I sent 1,000 hack messages and got 255 votes. I fully expected that 25% conversion rate from leaflets.
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Post by No Offence Alan on Aug 16, 2024 17:10:25 GMT
Why did 3,000+ leaflets = 54 votes? Genuine question that I'm struggling with. Delivering 3 (different) leaflets to 1,000 of those addresses would have yielded more votes than delivering 1 leaflet to 3,000 addresses. One to announce your candidacy, one before the postal votes go out, and one more before polling day.
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Post by gwynthegriff on Aug 16, 2024 17:10:57 GMT
They didn't see Labour as fear, or you as hope. You can choose to work the ward to change their minds, or not and don't. Up to you It seems like significant work needed. The private sector may be easier. I'm torn or maybe I'm not. I appreciate this long thread's attention. It was great to receive it. This doesn't quite seem the community commitment electors might wish to see in candidates.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:13:37 GMT
It seems like significant work needed. The private sector may be easier. I'm torn or maybe I'm not. I appreciate this long thread's attention. It was great to receive it. This doesn't quite seem the community commitment electors might wish to see in candidates. I mean, I have a company. And stocks and shares et al. I don't see an issue there. Companies can serve communities as well. But as for the election results. I guess I enjoy being humiliated. I must do otherwise why run? I don't know what it achieved. Moving the Overton window a lot? I doubt that very much honestly.
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Post by gwynthegriff on Aug 16, 2024 17:15:28 GMT
In the 2022 county council election I think I put out 10,000 leaflets across four months and got 65 votes. In the Michaelmas 2018 Oxford Union Secretary election I sent 1,000 hack messages and got 255 votes. I fully expected that 25% conversion rate from leaflets. One could suggest that a student election is a very different beast to a local government election. But you've been told this repeatedly. And it hasn't registered previously so why would it now?
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Post by timrollpickering on Aug 16, 2024 17:15:58 GMT
Even though I wouldn't vote batman. You would prefer the Penguin?
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:16:02 GMT
In the Michaelmas 2018 Oxford Union Secretary election I sent 1,000 hack messages and got 255 votes. I fully expected that 25% conversion rate from leaflets. One could suggest that a student election is a very different beast to a local government election. But you've been told this repeatedly. And it hasn't registered previously so why would it now? Why is that - neither change anything?
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Post by finsobruce on Aug 16, 2024 17:16:43 GMT
In the 2022 county council election I think I put out 10,000 leaflets across four months and got 65 votes. In the Michaelmas 2018 Oxford Union Secretary election I sent 1,000 hack messages and got 255 votes. I fully expected that 25% conversion rate from leaflets. I remember that election because people on here advised you on what you should do.
A different sort of electorate altogether in the Oxford Union. Members of a society pretty much set up for that sort of thing, rather than members of the general public none of whom you knew before starting out.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:17:26 GMT
Focusing on Oxford Chancellor election now.
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Post by finsobruce on Aug 16, 2024 17:18:00 GMT
Even though I wouldn't vote batman . You would prefer the Penguin? You are such a joker.
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Post by batman on Aug 16, 2024 17:21:10 GMT
I did apply to stand in Cities of London & Westminster. This was when I was on the factional left. However, I didn't get the support from the organised left that I had done in Richmond Park, which at the time went to the "Red Reverend" Steven Saxby (also not a local, as he was & no doubt still is based in Waltham Forest). Unfortunately after I applied my father-in-law, to whom I was close, fell ill & died in agony in hospital, and I didn't have it in me to campaign hard for the nomination. I learnt a very important lesson from this experience, and that lesson was never again to apply for a seat for which I had no genuine links. As it happens, I fell out with the Labour Party not very long after this, and although I am fully reconciled with it now I have now reached my mid-sixties, and am unlikely to apply to stand in a parliamentary seat again. If I ever do so it will have to be a seat with which I have genuine links, and while I know C of L & W very well I cannot claim to have such links, and in any case there will be no vacancy any time soon. My application for the constituency was, I now acknowledge, a mistake, but it was hardly a criminal offence meriting a nastily-toned intervention here. I have reported the numbskull comment which is quite needlessly rude to another contributor & in any case unjustified. I live in hope that the atmosphere of this forum improves and that the quality of debate and discussion does too.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:21:21 GMT
I'm glad the Gaza independent lost. There, I said it at last. I don't want Gaza independent Councillors. Councillors should focus on their area. I have since left certain chats. I admire and respect Andrew Feinstein. But some of his disciples, no. These people emphasise Gaza all day. There's not much we can do. I support sensible, considered BDS policies. But a Gaza Independent Islington Councillor? No, I don't believe in that. We need someone who can fix stuff. I meant all that stuff btw. The St John's way pub etc. The Archway Road Steps as well. These are real issues in Hillrise.
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J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 14,444
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Post by J.G.Harston on Aug 16, 2024 17:21:40 GMT
Middle class when I was young. Working class back around 2011 / 2012. Then lower middle class at uni. Now upper middle class being honest. I’m not sure that class works that way tbh, the idea you can be working class for about a year or so …… nope …. Don’t confuse employment with class. Isn't "class" what your parents do? So, Sander's parents were teachers when he was young, became bricklayers around 2011, erm... shop steward when he was at uni, and, erm... doctors now?
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Post by batman on Aug 16, 2024 17:23:06 GMT
If there is to be a candidacy for Chancellor of Oxford University, and I have no idea what practical obstacles there are for such a candidacy, I can only hope that there is not endless discussion of it here.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:24:41 GMT
I’m not sure that class works that way tbh, the idea you can be working class for about a year or so …… nope …. Don’t confuse employment with class. Isn't "class" what your parents do? So, Sander's parents were teachers when he was young, became bricklayers around 2011, erm... shop steward when he was at uni, and, erm... doctors now? Dad: Journalist 1997 - 2006, unemployed 2006 - 2014, £20k a year job 2014 - 2018, unemployed since then Mother: shop worker part time 1997 - 2017 - now retired. I don't think class is what your parents do. It's what you do. For me, Company profits, 2020, £7k, 2021: £26k, 2022: £32k, 2023: £61k, 2024: £57k. Hence, upper middle class. Assets: Premium Bonds; £20k; stock portfolio: £23k, ISA: £5k. So yes, upper middle class now for sur.e
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nyx
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Post by nyx on Aug 16, 2024 17:26:07 GMT
This doesn't quite seem the community commitment electors might wish to see in candidates. I mean, I have a company. And stocks and shares et al. I don't see an issue there. Companies can serve communities as well. But as for the election results. I guess I enjoy being humiliated. I must do otherwise why run? I don't know what it achieved. Moving the Overton window a lot? I doubt that very much honestly. Well, any politician loses an election at some point. Suppose it comes down to a question of how strongly you want to be involved. If you do join the Greens I suppose the next big campaign would be the 2026 Islington Council election. Greens do have a chance of picking up some councillors then.
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J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 14,444
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Post by J.G.Harston on Aug 16, 2024 17:26:45 GMT
Of course it's different for every voter. My mother is usually discouraged from supporting candidates who send obviously-well-produced leaflets on glossy paper thanks to thinking it's a needless waste of money to do anything elaborate like that. 15 years ago that was a very real issue - and I did prefer Risograph leaflets to glossies except for a single election address back then. However, times have changed. Full colour glossies are the same price as Risos (give or take) and can be available almost as quickly. Residents seem to be attaching more importance to "professional" than previously. The glossies can get lost amongst the pizza leaflets which also take advantage of the low price of glossy material. It gets harder to be distinctive when the technology gets cheaper and cheaper and available to more and more people.
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Post by sanders on Aug 16, 2024 17:27:06 GMT
I mean, I have a company. And stocks and shares et al. I don't see an issue there. Companies can serve communities as well. But as for the election results. I guess I enjoy being humiliated. I must do otherwise why run? I don't know what it achieved. Moving the Overton window a lot? I doubt that very much honestly. Well, any politician loses an election at some point. Suppose it comes down to a question of how strongly you want to be involved. If you do join the Greens I suppose the next big campaign would be the 2026 Islington Council election. Greens do have a chance of picking up some councillors then. I make enough income passively from doing basically nothing these days so I can afford to go all in on local electioneering. Let's fucking go.
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