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- Hanna is here
- Hanna is here
- GOP Convention Delay Is Being Considered
- Will GOP Convention Go On As Scheduled?
- Long Lines Waiting To Get Into Invesco Field
- Two More Floridians On Podium Tonight, Including Final Benediction
- Business Licenses, August 11–15, 2008
- Business Licenses, August 4–8, 2008
- You Don’t See This Often (Thankfully)
- Business Licenses, July 28 – August 1, 2008
- Business Licenses, July 21-25, 2008
- Still No Floor Credentials, But Did See J-Lo
- Wednesday Was Historic
- We’ve Got Our Tropical Conga Line
- Breakfast Speaker Foulup Nixes McCaskill
Most of my family lives in the rural area of Brooksville, Fl. They have received few political mailers if any at all. Why is that? Do the parties just not want the votes of the rural community?
Ashley Kuhn
USF Student
Brooksville, Fl
Dear Ashley:
Parties should definitely want the votes of the rural community—after all, rural areas in Florida often have higher voter turnout rates than the state’s urban areas.
It is difficult to say why your family members have not received much direct mail without knowing what political party, if any, they are registered with and how often they vote, especially in non-presidential election years.
Since mailers are expensive (35 to 50 cents or more), candidates without much money may not be able to send out direct mail. And it is often difficult to raise money if you are a first-time candidate or if you are running against a popular incumbent with high name recognition. It is also difficult to raise money to spend on ads if you’re a candidate whose political party rarely wins elections in a particular area of the state.
In summary, there can be a lot of other reasons why a registered voter may not get any mailers or fliers from candidates. The most common are:
1. The leading candidate has no serious opposition—so he/she doesn’t need to send out direct mail.
2. If a voter is an infrequent voter (one only votes in presidential elections), candidates may choose not to send them any mail, particularly if short on campaign funds. More frequent voters are a higher priority.
3. If a voter is registered with a particular political party whose candidates rarely win, that candidate will likely not have enough money to send out mailers..
4. If a voter is registered as an independent, he/she may not get much mail, unless the race is close, then independents will get tons of it.
Even if your family members get direct mail, there’s no guarantee they will read it. Older voters tend to read these fliers more than younger voters. Today’s mailers have to capture the voter’s attention which is challenging to those who design these pieces. A political consultant once told me that “I have from the time someone takes the mailer out of the mailbox to the first trash can to get them to read it!”
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