Which voters do parties target when they campaign, and to what extent are these efforts affected by their organizational resources? This paper seeks to answer these questions by pairing data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems with party organizational data from the Political Party and V-Party Databases. Our study evaluates face-to-face and digital contacting in terms of its extensiveness (how many potential voters get contacted) and in terms of whose supporters get contacted. Using a novel approach that considers the partisan preferences of those who were contacted, we find evidence that both local organizational strength and central party finances matter for boosting parties’ face-to-face and digital contacts. We also find that greater resources are associated with greater targeting of contacts, with different types of resources favoring different types of targeting, including mobilization contacting aimed at likely supporters and persuasive contacting that targets all likely voters. These results offer clues about how parties translate organizational resources into electoral advantages.
AldrichJGibsonRCantijochM, et al. (2016) Getting out the vote in the social media era: are digital tools changing the extent, nature and impact of party contacting in elections?Party Politics22(2): 165–178.
2.
AndréADepauwS (2016) The electoral impact of grassroots activity in the 2012 local elections in Flanders. Acta Politica51: 131–152.
3.
BarclayADommettKRussmannU (2024) Data driven-campaign infrastructures in Europe: evidence from Austria and the UK. Journal of Political Marketing1–20. doi: 10.1080/15377857.2024.2347833.
4.
BeneM (2023) Who reaps the benefits? A cross-country investigation of the absolute and relative normalization and equalization theses in the 2019 European parliament elections. New Media & Society25(7): 1708–1727.
5.
BértoaFCEnyediZMölderM (2024) Party and party system institutionalization: which comes first?Perspectives on Politics22(1): 1–19.
6.
BhattiYDahlgaardJOHedegaard HansenJ, et al. (2019) Is door-to-door canvassing effective in Europe? Evidence from a Meta-study across six European countries. British Journal of Political Science49(1): 279–290.
7.
BischofDKurerT (2023) Place-based campaigning: the political impact of real grassroots mobilization. The Journal of Politics85(3): 984–1002.
8.
BolleyerNRuthS (2018) Elite investments in party institutionalization in new democracies: a two dimensional approach. The Journal of Politics80(1): 288–302.
9.
CarrerasMCastañeda-AngaritaN (2014) Who votes in Latin America? A test of three theoretical perspectives. Comparative Political Studies47(8): 1079–1104.
10.
CartyRKEaglesM (1999) Do local campaigns matter? Campaign spending, the local canvass and party support in Canada. Electoral Studies18(1): 69–87.
11.
CuttsDHaughtonT (2021) Winning votes and influencing people: campaigning in central and Eastern Europe. East European Politics37(2): 239–266.
12.
DaltonR (1988) Citizen Politics in Western Democracies. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
13.
DaltonR (2014) Interpreting partisan dealignment in Germany. German Politics23(1-2): 134–144.
14.
DassonnevilleRHoogheM (2018) Indifference and alienation: diverging dimensions of electoral dealignment in Europe. Acta Politica53(1): 1–23.
15.
DohertyDDowlingCMMillerMG (2022) Small Power: How Local Parties Shape Elections. Oxford University Press.
16.
DommettKTempleL (2018) Digital campaigning: the rise of Facebook and satellite campaigns. Parliamentary Affairs71(1): 189–202.
17.
EmanueleVChiaramonteASoareS (2020) Does the Iron Curtain still exist? The convergence in electoral volatility between Eastern and Western Europe. Government and Opposition55(2): 308–326.
FarrellDWebbPD (2000) Political parties as campaign organizations. In: DaltonRWattenbergM (eds). Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
20.
FieldhouseECuttsDWiddopP, et al. (2013) Do impersonal mobilisation methods work? Evidence from a nationwide get-out-the-vote experiment in England. Electoral Studies32(1): 113–123.
21.
FinkelSOppK (1991) Party identification and participation in collective political action. The Journal of Politics53(2): 339–371.
22.
FisherJJohnstonRCuttsD, et al. (2014) You get what you (don’t) pay for: the impact of volunteer labour and candidate spending at the 2010 British general election. Parliamentary Affairs67(4): 804–824.
23.
FisherJFieldhouseEJohnstonR, et al. (2016) Is all campaigning equally positive? The impact of district level campaigning on voter turnout at the 2010 British general election. Party Politics22(2): 215–226.
24.
GershtensonJ (2003) Mobilization strategies of the Democrats and Republicans, 1956-2000. Political Research Quarterly56(3): 293–308.
25.
GherghinaSIancuASoareS (eds) (2018) Party Members and their Importance in non-EU Countries: A Comparative Analysis. London: Routledge.
26.
GibsonR (2015) Party change, social media and the rise of “citizen-initiated” campaigning. Party Politics21(2): 183–197.
27.
GibsonRMcAllisterI (2015) Normalising or equalising party competition? Assessing the impact of the web on election campaigning. Political Studies63(3): 529–547.
28.
GibsonRRömmeleA (2009) Measuring the professionalization of political campaigning. Party Politics15(3): 265–293.
29.
GrusellMNordL (2020) Setting the trend or changing the game? Professionalization and digitalization of election campaigns in Sweden. Journal of Political Marketing19(3): 258–278.
30.
HershED (2015) Hacking the Electorate: How Campaigns Perceive Voters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31.
HoogheMKernA (2013) Party membership and closeness and the development of trust in political institutions: an analysis of the European social survey, 2002–2010. Party Politics21(6): 944–956.
32.
IbenskasR (2014) Activists or money? Explaining the electoral success and persistence of political parties in Lithuania. Party Politics20(6): 879–889.
33.
KarpJBanducciS (2007) Party mobilization and political participation in new and old democracies. Party Politics13(2): 217–234.
34.
KarpJBanducciSBowlerS (2008) Getting out the vote: party mobilization in a comparative perspective. British Journal of Political Science38(1): 91–112.
35.
KoskimaaV (2023) The weight of the past: political parties’ ‘genetic’ heritage and the ease of their organizational professionalization. Government and Opposition58(1): 1–21.
36.
LadiniR (2021) The differentiated effects of direct mobilisation on turnout: evidence from the 2013 Austrian parliamentary election. German Politics30(2): 267–296.
37.
LoberaJPortosM (2021) Decentralizing electoral campaigns? new-Old parties, grassroots and digital activism. Information, Communication & Society24(10): 1419–1440.
38.
MagalhãesPAldrichJGibsonR (2020) New forms of mobilization, new people mobilized? Evidence from the comparative study of electoral systems. Party Politics26(5): 605–618.
39.
MainwaringBMcGrawS (2019) How catchall parties compete ideologically: beyond party typologies. European Journal of Political Research58(2): 676–696.
40.
MainwaringSBizzarroFPetrovaA (2018) Party system institutionalization, decay and collapse. In: ScottM (ed) Party Systems in Latin America: Institutionalization, Decay and Collapse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 17–33.
41.
MoralesLRamiroLJiménez-BuedoM (2023) Assessing the electoral payoffs of partisan mobilization in adverse contexts: a field experimental study of the 2011 Spanish local elections. In: FaasTHuberSKrewelM, et al. (eds) Informationsflüsse, Wahlen Und Demokratie, 213–246.
42.
NickersonDRogersT (2014) Political campaigns and big data. The Journal of Economic Perspectives28(2): 51–74.
43.
NorrisP (2006) Did the media matter? Agenda-setting, persuasion and mobilization effects in the British general election campaign. British Politics1(2): 195–221.
44.
NúñezL (2021) The effects of local campaigning in Great Britain. Electoral Studies73(1): 102384.
45.
NúñezL (2025) Encouraging loyalty and defection: the impact of campaigns on tactical voting in Britain. American Journal of Political Science69(3): 981–994.
46.
NymanP (2017) Door-to-door canvassing in the European elections: evidence from a Swedish field experiment. Electoral Studies45: 110–118.
47.
PonceAScarrowS (2011) Who gives? Partisan donations in Europe. West European Politics34(5): 997–1020.
48.
RasmussenMKnutsenC (2020) Party institutionalization and welfare state development. British Journal of Political Science51(3): 1203–1229.
49.
RaudenbuschSBrykA (2002) Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
50.
SamuelsDZuccoC (2015) Crafting mass partisanship at the grass roots. British Journal of Political Science45(4): 755–775.
51.
ScarrowSWebbPPoguntkeT (2022) Intra-party decision-making in contemporary Europe: improving representation or ruling with empty shells?Irish Political Studies37(2): 196–217.
52.
SmithJK (2009) Campaigning and the catch-all party: the process of party transformation in Britain. Party Politics15(5): 555–572.
53.
TavitsM (2008) On the linkage between electoral volatility and party system instability in Central and Eastern Europe. European Journal of Political Research47(5): 537–555.
54.
TavitsM (2012) Organizing for success: party organizational strength and electoral performance in post-communist Europe. The Journal of Politics74(1): 83–97.
55.
TownsleyJ (2025) Is it worth door-knocking? Evidence from a United Kingdom-based get out the vote (GOTV) field experiment on the effect of party leaflets and canvass visits on voter turnout. Political Science Research and Methods13(1): 21–35.
56.
TownsleyJCuttsD (2024) How do voters want to be contacted and are parties listening? Evidence from a recent election in Wales. Political Studies72(1): 90–111.
57.
WebbPDPolettiMBaleT (2017) So who really does the donkey work in ‘multi-speed membership parties’? Comparing the election campaign activity of party members and party supporters. Electoral Studies46: 64–74.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
