Voters are growing increasingly weary of digital fundraising practices in political campaigns.
Voter burnout over the practice is occurring parallel to the continued growth of the multi-billion dollar industry, Politico reported. In the 2022 midterm election cycle, campaigns spent $110 million on renting contact lists, compared to $42 million in 2018. Despite this, voters complain of the “spammy” nature of the emails, with many having their inboxes flooded with pleas for donations despite never having signed up for campaign emails.
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A survey of Democratic-leaning voters, carried out by Civic Shout and Kos Media late last year, found that 46% of respondents received Democratic campaign emails despite having no recollection of signing up for them, while 54% received texts despite having not signed up for them. The majority responded that the messages had no impact on their voting. Notably, nearly a quarter of respondents said that they refrained from donating or volunteering out of fear of receiving more campaign messages.
The companies responsible for the communication output have likewise been bombarded with negative feedback from customers. Despite this, the industry shows no sign of adjusting tactics.
“The feedback you’re getting from people is terrible, right?” Lloyd Cotler, the founder of Banter Messaging said to Politico. “What do you think, like people are going to curse you out and then be excited to go vote for you?”
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Cotler recommends to family and friends to simply write a check to candidates they are looking to support rather than supply them with contact information and risk their names being passed around to different digital fundraising companies.
