COLUMBUS, Ohio — As decision 2024 continues, campaign strategy has been critical for the presidential candidates, as the process can become expensive. In today’s digital age, Zoom and other digital platforms have been adopted as major campaign strategies for the presidential ticket, compared to traditional door-knocking.
“I think both sides are using digital means to reach voters at a level not seen even four, six or eight years ago,” said Matt Dole, who is a Republican political strategist.
Dole specializes in campaign funding, and has worked in the political sector for nearly 20 years. He says for a presidential ticket, Zoom could be an effective tactic for campaigning on the national-level to get those hard-to-reach groups across the country.
“It’s easy for a presidential campaign to do a Zoom,” Dole said. “And get a bunch of people on who are excited about the race, and that tactic that way of communicating probably works.”
Dole believes presidential candidates can potentially save money by using digital means to reach nontraditional donors. He says technology could make it easier to send links, talk to several people at once, and also help presidential candidates connect to people. Then, their campaign can send links, and ask to raise money. Dole believes the Presidential ticket is the easiest place to raise money because the whole country is interested in the race. However, sometimes there could be some challenges.
“The hardest thing to do inside of that political realm is to say, ‘how do we get beyond the same people who have donated the last ten cycles or eight cycles?’ And, ‘how do we find the new people who are maybe here just as Trump voters, or Kamala voters rather than Democrat voters or Republican voters?’ it’s about brainstorming.” said Dole. “What’s interesting from a Zoom perspective is that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both bring unique coalitions to the table of folks who aren’t traditional long time political donors. So, reaching those folks by Zoom allows more of those folks to be reached and have that direct contact, which is what they crave with the press, with the candidate.”
Meanwhile, Dole says he thinks the traditional door-knocking grassroots method could be helpful for non-presidential candidates who are not on the national-level, and could be reaching a smaller population. For example, Statehouse races, and even the United States Senate races, could potentially benefit from door-knocking. It could help voters get to know the candidate personally and help people understand their agenda. However, he says the 2024 race is far from traditional, and he’s excited about what to expect.
“It will be interesting to see what happens in the future,” Dole said. “How the coalition they built moves. Will Trump’s coalition stay in the Republican party, and support another Republican? Will Kamala, who’s building this coalition, bring in someone who maybe is a more traditional Democrat as the Vice Presidential nominee?”