Has a politician knocked on your door of late? If so, did they sway your views?

A knock at the front door typically inspires one of two questions: “Who the hell is that?” or “Do I have to put pants on for this?”

Last week I gambled on the latter and, wearing a long T-shirt, answered the door to a Greens volunteer named Ashley. It was my second political doorknocker in as many weeks.

Max Chandler-Mather doorknocking in his Brisbane electorate. Greens MPs and volunteers have become synonymous with doorknocking and field work in recent years. Credit: Paul Harris

No offence to Ashley, but I don’t particularly like doorknockers. And since my days of peddling chocolates in primary school, I don’t like doorknocking, either. I’m in the comfort and privacy of my home, you are in yours, let’s leave it that way.

I doubt I’m in the minority. But I can’t help but wonder how effective doorknocking is, and whether it has a place in future political campaigns.

University of Queensland lecturer in political science Adam Hannah says it’s difficult for political scientists to evaluate the efficacy of political doorknocking, or canvassing, because of the lack of large-scale research into the practice in Australia.

He said parties do their own research, and they suggest that a really well-organised field campaign – which is a bit broader than just doorknocking – might make a 1 to 2 percentage point difference in a given electorate.

“That’s not insignificant, but obviously, these are very resource intensive [practices], and we’re not talking about huge numbers of voters being shifted.”

In places such as the US, research shows canvassing is an effective political tool, which Hannah says is mainly because of their non-compulsory voting system.

“It suggests that this sort of field campaigning – canvassing, doorknocking – is effective for mobilisation and getting people out to vote, [more than] persuasion. It’s very hard to change someone’s mind unless they’re already amenable to the message that you’re sending,” he said.

Despite Australia’s mandatory voting system, Hannah says there is still a need to mobilise voters, especially during byelections and state and local elections, when turnout tends to be lower.

The upcoming October state election is the obvious explanation for the current wave of doorknockers. And it makes sense for parties to focus their efforts on the most hotly contested seats, including those that have changed hands in recent history.

In Jane Cadzow’s feature on Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, the member for Griffith estimated he knocked on some 15,000 doors in his electorate during his campaign to win the seat.

During the afternoon she spent with him, Cadzow observed mixed responses, from abruptly shut doors to enthusiastic locals happy to chat.

“His goal is to have meaningful conversations with his constituents – find out how they’re feeling about things, what problems they’re facing, and what, if anything, he can do to help,” she wrote.

Hannah says in the Brisbane context, the Greens have built a reputation for extensive doorknocking.

“Again, there are debates over the extent to which that had an effect in 2022. If you ask Greens campaigners, they say it had a big effect – not just the doorknocking, but broader community events and outreach.”

With two weekends left before the state campaign even officially begins, the LNP, Labor and the Greens have already started doorknocking in Brisbane, and sharing photos on their timelines to prove it.

Political doorknocking has something in common with door-to-door sales, a practice that had a straightforward purpose pre-digital age. Will canvassing eventually die out with modernisation and the continued encroachment of technology in all facets of our lives? Hannah doesn’t think so.

“There’s been a bit of a resurgence around this sort of grassroots campaigning since the 1990s. For example, the Obama campaign and the Sanders campaign in the US really emphasised the grassroots work,” he said.

“You’re having a lot of conversations with people, and it’s going to be a small number of people that you are connecting with and making a difference with, so it’s a weight-of-numbers game in that sense.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the use of digital campaigning tools and demographic targeting, which parties are using – there’s no doubt about that.

“[But collecting data] and targeting people on social media is also really challenging, and the promises about how effective it might have been, say during the 2016 Trump campaign and Brexit, I don’t think we’re seeing that play out in reality.”

Different things work for different people. For me, that means I might have to continue hiding behind the curtain waiting for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to leave. But for others, maybe this is just the thing they need to cast an informed vote next month.

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