Problem Addressed
Campaigns increasingly ask supporters to reach out to the people they know, an approach often called “relational campaigning”. A message from a friend or family member can carry more weight than a leaflet or an advert. However, little is known about what makes supporters willing to do this, what they ask people to do, and who they choose to contact.
Approach & Implementation
Around the May 2026 elections, Campaign Lab surveyed campaign supporters across the UK. Participants were asked to think about specific people in their lives and how willing they would be to message them, either to encourage them to vote or to persuade them who to vote for. Some were shown short information about how effective and well-received these messages tend to be, and some were also given practical tips for having these conversations.
Findings
Supporters were far more comfortable encouraging people to vote than trying to change how they vote. Many saw persuasion as less likely to work, more likely to cause friction, and in some cases as crossing a social line. Reassuring information made supporters somewhat more willing to reach out, and practical tips added a little more. When trying to persuade, supporters did not especially seek out people who disagreed with them or who paid less attention to politics; many seemed to focus on people with broadly similar views.
Implications for Campaigners
Supporters’ personal networks are a valuable resource, but simply asking people to use them is unlikely to be enough. Campaigns may get more from relational programmes by addressing supporters’ worries about awkwardness and effectiveness, and by equipping them with simple conversational approaches.
These findings are preliminary. A full paper is forthcoming.