This conference paper provides an account of the number, form and cost (activist time and financial) of door to door political leafleting and direct mail marketing in the February 2013 Eastleigh by-election.

1. The number, form and genre
of direct mail marketing and
door to door political
leafleting in the February
2013 Eastleigh by-election.
Marcus Leaning
University of Winchester

2. Eastleigh
• Located in Hampshire.
• Electorate of 78,313
(Boundary commission 2011).
• More densely populated than
the rest of south east
England.
• Historic transport industry
(railways, airport,
shipbuilding)
• Currently retail employs 33%
of workforce, leisure also big.

3. Politics
• Constituency created in 1955.
• Held by Conservatives until 1994.
• David Chidgey won the in 1994 by-
election following the death of
Stephen Milligan.
• Chris Huhne held the seat in 2005.
• But was arrested and (eventually)
pleaded guilty for ‘perverting the
course of justice’ after getting his
then wife to accept speeding points
in 2003.
• Mike Thornton (Lib Dem) held the
seat on the 28th Feb 2013.

4. Electoral Campaigning
• The Lib Dem victory was attributed to a
‘strong ground game’ – the mobilisation of
lots of political activists to engage voters.
• This paper looks at one aspect of the
campaign, the door to door leafleting.
• An important but (recently) less studied
electoral campaigning technique.

5. The impact of the local activist on
electoral campaign performance
• Norris (2002) sees three periods in campaigning: Pre-modern,
modern and post modern.
• Premodern were activist based, during the modern period the
Nuffield Studies reported the futility of local activism in campaigns
as elections are won or lost on national issues (Cutts, 2006a).
• Postmodern electioneering – that occurring post 1993 (Norris,
2000) is about ‘strategic targeting’.
• This has resulted in a revitalisation of local activism (Cutts, 2006b)
underpinned by central party support that bolster constituency
parties (Fisher and Denver, 2008).
• This requires lots of activists (Pattie and Johnston, 2009) and can
overcome limited spending (Fisher, 2011).
• Door to door leafleting is a good barometer of local activism.
• However the leaflets are not homogeneous and actually offer
further insight into local activism.

6. Method
• Consideration of all deliveries to one address over the
campaign period.
• This was from the day of Huhne’s guilty plea (4th Feb),
though the official declaration of candidates and official
start of campaign (13th Feb) to the election day (28th Feb).
• In total 61 printed party political electoral communications
were delivered from 11 of the 14 standing parties.
• Look at:
– Number and frequency;
– Type;
– Discursive strategies

7. Number of door to door delivery by
party
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1
Liberal Democrat
UKIP
Labour
Conservative
Independent
English Democrats
National Health
Action
Christian
Peace
TUSC
Wessex Regionalist
PARTY No. of communications Votes
Liberal Democrat 24 13,342
UKIP 13 11,571
Labour 7 4,088
Conservative 6 10,559
Independent 3 768
English Democrats 3 70
National Health Action 2 392
Christian 1 163
Peace 1 128
TUSC 1 62
Wessex Regionalist 1 30
Beer, Baccy and Crumpet 0 235
Monster Raving Loony 0 136
Elvis Loves Pets 0 72

8. Number of leaflets delivered by day
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

9. Types of communication
• Can be considered by:
– Financial cost to produce and deliver.
– Labour to produce and deliver.
– Mode of communication.
• 4 basic types of communication:
– Leaflet
– Impersonal letter
– Personal letter / communication
– Pseudo magazine/newspaper

10. Leaflets
• Long heritage.
• The ‘base’ door to door
political communication.
• Relatively cheap to
produce but intensive to
deliver – by activist.
• Tone is often
‘proclamatory’.

11. Impersonal letters
• In many ways similar to
a leaflet – tend to be
more issue focussed.
• Again relatively cheap to
produce but intensive to
deliver – by activists.
• Tone is ‘discursive’ or
‘conversational’.

12. Personal letter / communication
• Addressed to an
individual.
• Explicit targeting.
• Variable costs to
produce.
• Expensive / intensive
to deliver- either
• by Royal Mail -
candidates get one
free delivery.
• Or on occasion by
hand by activist.

13. Pseudo magazine/newspaper
• Mimicry or
remediation of local
newspaper or
magazine.
• Visually distinct.
• Occasionally politically
‘camouflaged’.
• Expensive to produce.
• Intensive to deliver.

14. Type of communication by party
Party Leaflets
Activist
delivered
Impersonal
letter
Activist
delivered
Personal letter
Paid delivery
Pseudo
newspaper
magazine
Total
Activist
delivered
Total Paid
for
delivery
Total
Liberal Democrat 15 6 (1 hand delivered) 3 19 5 24
UKIP 9 2 2 11 2 13
Labour 4 3 4 3 7
Conservative 1 2 3 4 2 6
Independent 3 3 3
English Democrats 3 3 3
National Health
Action
2 2 2
Christian 1 1 1
Peace 1 1 1
TUSC 1 1 1
Wessex
Regionalist
1 1 1

15. Hmmm…
• Lib dems – lots of activism and lots spent.
• Ukip – lots of activism but not so much
money.
• Labour – a bit of activism and a bit of money
spent.
• Conservative – similar amount of activism but
lots of money spent.

16. References
• Cutts, D. (2006a) Continuous campaigning and electoral outcomes: The Liberal
Democrats in Bath. Political Geography, 25(1), 72-88.
• Cutts, D. (2006b) “Where We Work We Win”: A Case Study of Local Liberal
Democrat Campaigning. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties, 16(3), 221-
242.
• Fisher, J., Cutts, D. J. and Fieldhouse, E. (2011) ‘Constituency Campaigning in 2010’,
in D. Wring , R. Mortimore and S. Atkinson (eds), Political Communication in
Britain: The Leader Debates, the Campaign and the Media in the 2010 General
Election. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 198–217.
• Fisher, J. and Denver, D. (2008) From Foot-Slogging to Call Centres and Direct Mail:
A Framework for Analyzing the Development of District-Level Campaigning,
European Journal of Political Research, 47 (6), 794–826.
• Norris, P. (2000) A Virtuous Circle: Political Communications in Postindustrial
Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pattie, C., & Johnston, R. (2009) Still Talking, But Is Anyone Listening?: The
Changing Face of Constituency Campaigning in Britain, 1997—2005. Party Politics,
15(4), 411-434.