Political Telephone Canvassing

All of the adjectives that you described Granny23. I would put the phone down, that is if I picked it up in the first place. I no longer answer the door when I see people out canvassing.

I am not sure how you would persuade people to vote. It appears to be mainly our age group who trot out to vote for local, general and mayoral elections.

I would put the phone down too Granny23 I don't mind people coming to the door if I don't want to answer I won't .

Yes, me too; in fact we usually don't even answer any call with a number we don't recognise, assuming that whoever it is will leave a message if necessary and then we will phone back. We wouldn't be rude to someone coming to the door, but we are quite capable of deciding how to vote (in both ballots) and wouldn't have our minds changed by anyone coming to canvass. Sorry!

I've done both door-to-door and phone canvassing. I don't recall having the phone put down on me, though some people were not enthusiastic. Often the object of canvassing isn't to persuade residents to vote for one's party, but to find out if that is their intention. If we had that information, the numbers taken outside the polling station would identify who had voted and if they hadn't, we would be sent round to 'knock them up' which was a miserable job as the closure of the polls approached on a chilly evening. I have now 'retired' from active politics!

I have done both for years, just if you get an insult don't take it personally and try to avoid telephoning if there is a very popular programme on TVs , good luck,

I would start off by being polite but that may change if the person was persistent and would not go away. I do not like to be interrupted when I am cooking or as you mentioned, watching something decent on TV.

A canvasser should always be polite and just end the call with thank you for your time if told to go away or similar

Yes I would find this annoying and would end the call straight away. Pointless contacting me anyway because I tell every party the same thing, " yes of course I will vote for you " they go off happy bunnies, just hope they don't talk to each other

There are probably quite a lot of people who are annoyed by door-to-door canvassing and I can't see why they would be any more annoyed by telephone canvassing. As others have said, people who don't like it, may not answer the door or may put the phone down.

I don't mind people canvassing. If they are from a party I don't agree with, I just say I won't be voting for them but I don't think it's nice to slam doors in their face, slam down phones or be rude in any other way.

As you would be making unsolicited calls aka nuisance calls you'd be asking for some pretty rude responses if you got any response at all. If you can face that then go for it.

I always appreciate someone from a political party wanting to discuss and/or explain party policies. If he/she just wants to know who I am going to vote for – well, the ballot is supposed to be secret.

I don't answer the 'phone if I don't recognise the number display.

As for canvassers trying to find out how I will vote. We have the right to a secret vote and that's the way it should stay.