President Trump’s inauguration fired up a lot of people – just not the people he and Republicans in Congress had hoped to ignite. The Women’s March, protests following Trump’s executive orders, and animated Congressional town halls show that progressives aren’t just going to back down.
That flare and passion has translated to wildly successful phone programs. Now is the time to talk with supporters, expand your base, and use phones to take action.
Heeding the call to action
Just before Trump’s inauguration, we called Democrats in Arizona and asked them to patch to Senators Flake and McCain’s offices to tell them not to repeal the Affordable Care Act without an immediate replacement. Our patch rate was over two times the average.
With a health organization in Illinois, we asked voters if we could transfer them to their State Senator’s office to tell them to pass laws that protect children’s health. Again, we saw patch rates more than twice our normal rate.
We know that phones are effective for connecting ordinary citizens with their lawmakers to speak with and persuade them, and now more than ever, people are heeding the call to action.
But things don’t stop when we send a caller through to their legislator. Organizations can reach back out to voters who patch through to keep them up to date with future initiatives and calls to action.
Runaway participation
Our Telephone Town Halls have seen the same boost that our patch calls are getting.
We ran a Telephone Town Hall with an environmental group to touch base with supporters and give them ways to take action against Trump’s nomination to head the EPA – Scott Pruitt. Participants spent nearly double the amount of time on the call than average, and at the end of the event, we gave each participant the opportunity to be transferred to their Senator to urge them to reject Pruitt. Over 1,100 people agreed to be transferred at the press of a button.
During a Telephone Town Hall with a labor union, the response to a poll question asking people to pledge to take action was four times higher than usual. In other words, people are staying on the line for Telephone Town Halls, and they’re fired up.
Not only are Telephone Town Halls a great way to reach your base and activate them, they’re also a tremendous tool for expanding your membership. Using modeled voter file data, we can call voters, educate them on the issues, and turn them into supporters and activists.
We’re ready to help you, whether it’s with our Patch-Through Calls, Telephone Town Halls, or advocacy techniques.