Your Opinion, Please.

[PETRUS]

12. Some interesting things to think about!

I must be very stubborn - by the time anyone calls me or visits my house, I'm pretty clear about the candidates and how I feel about them. But I think door-knocking (or any face to face sort of outreach) is much more effective than phone calls, and I think that kind of campaigning in important. I believe I've had some success getting people to consider/reconsider when I talk with them in person.

The influence of deep pockets on our political system has long been a major complaint of mine. I don't have a good answer to this question, because I can't change the nature of things just by expressing my opinion. The idea of campaigns funded solely by small donors (and/or public financing) appeals to me, but few candidates have had luck going that route.

Your next question (about appealing to left, right, or center) is sort of complicated, and I could write a long essay about that. My short answer is that I think a party should be clear about what it stand for and stick to it.

Voter participation tends to increase with age, so I think there's some sense in focusing on younger people since fewer of them are casting ballots (and it's my impression that more young voters would help the Democratic party). I recently saw a bar graph that showed 2016 voter participation by income bracket. It looked like a staircase, with participation increasing steadily with higher incomes. You didn't ask about this, but I think it makes sense to focus GOTV efforts on lower income citizens (both for what I guess I'd call moral reasons, and because it too would probably help the Democratic party).

Now I'm going to read the other responses. Thanks for the OP.