Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1241IR // #c1241Synthesis

"The lower-profile the election, the bigger the impact of your work. If potential voters aren’t tuned in, volunteering makes a bigger difference."

— In our words · Source: This Is the Plan (Ben Wikler)

[Use when]

You're choosing where to spend limited effort and the high-profile contest is already saturated.

[Why it matters]

Swing voters in presidential years are buried in ads, mail and door hangers, so one more contact barely registers. In a city council race on a random Tuesday, one knock can decide a voter. Wikler calls this being an "elections hipster."

Filed under situations:When a rival’s move changes your game

More from This Is the Plan

#c1233"Here’s the operating principle: All other things being equal, you’ll be most persuasive to the people with whom you have the closest…You want to change minds and are about to start with the widest, least personal channel available. #c1234"Keep a CONSTANT WATCH on the DOUBTFUL VOTERS, and from time to time have them TALKED TO by those IN WHOM THEY HAVE THE MOST CONFIDENCE."You need to win over a wavering group and are deciding who should deliver the message. #c1235"Whenever a new way to reach someone unsolicitedly and cheaply pops into existence—mail, texts, Facebook messages—it has a brief twinkling…Your team is excited about a new cheap outreach channel because early numbers look great.

Same situation, different book

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