During the course of this election cycle, ActBlue tells me that I’ve made one or more contributions to 39 different campaigns or PACs across the country. I understand that candidates’ best targets for money are those of us who have previously donated. I therefore accept the fact that I will be asked for additional funds. I also accept the fact that my contact information will be shared with other campaigns.
I currently receive over 200 campaign emails a day – thankfully to an account I set up just for this purpose. While the volume of emails doesn’t really bother me, the tone of the emails bothers me a lot.
To my eyes, here’s how they all read:
“The sky is falling. I’m losing despite my perfect campaign and all of my very hard and unappreciated work. I NEED MORE MONEY AND I NEED IT NOW!! The pittance you sent earlier is beyond meaningless. You’re a cheap bastard and you hate democracy. I might just give up and my loss will be entirely YOUR FAULT!”
They’re not exactly “Friday Night Lights” motivational speeches.
I’m already aware of polling data and campaign finances are public information. Some of these campaigns might be in trouble but many are not. The emails – even the ones with minimal connections to reality – have thus been a total non-factor in my personal contribution decisions.
My concern is that the defeatist tone of these emails will not only fail to produce significant monetary contributions but might well contribute to a lack of voter turnout. If the candidates have given up, what’s the point of voting? Where are the emails thanking their supporters with an encouraging message and reminding them to vote early? Sure, they can add a donation button to the end of the email. They just can’t treat their voters like ATMs from which they need to withdraw as much money as possible before they pack up.
Could the campaigns maybe hire people with marketing degrees to run their online outreach efforts? Or perhaps just people with multi-digit IQs?