TARGETED DOOR-TO-DOOR CANVASSING AND THE PARTI SOCIALISTE'S POLITICAL CULTURE.

In the last few years the French Socialist Party has added door-to-door canvassing to a repertoire of electoral campaigning techniques it has been relying on since the 1970s. Though long considered ineffective, door-to-door canvassing has recently become a more rationalized, scientifically-based, technique, and is now highly regarded in the party. This article analyzes why. It shows how the adoption of this method coincides with a decline in the connection between party activists and local voter constituencies. It also evaluates how effective the new door-to-door canvassing has actually been. Given the paucity of party activists who are firmly anchored in the non-affluent communities the party draws on for its voters, the use of door-to-door canvassing risks exposing how wide the gap has become between the party and its electorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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