Does personal door-to-door campaigning influence voters? Evidence from a field experiment

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Year: 2023
Volume: 105
Issue: C

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We investigate a quasi-randomized field experiment to determine the effectiveness of door-to-door campaigning by a candidate on outcomes in a general election. The candidate campaigned door-to-door in quasi-randomly-selected voting precincts, which represent the treatment group. Precincts in which the candidate did not campaign door-to-door are the control group. We utilize detailed precinct-level demographic characteristics, vote totals for the candidate in the prior election, and vote totals for a candidate for another office that appeared on the same ballots in both elections. This information allows us to control for various factors using difference-in-difference and first difference regression models to account for differences between treatment and control groups. We find that door-to-door campaigning by the candidate increases the candidate's vote by 3 percentage points and the vote margin by 6 percentage points in a two-candidate race.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:soceco:v:105:y:2023:i:c:s2214804323000691
Journal Field
Experimental
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26