Yang Gang Weekly Wisdom #11: Trickle-Up Campaign
Inside 2008 Iowa. Bottom up not top down. Paid to Yang Gang results.
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Hey Yang Gang!
Last week was all about Iowa. This week is also heavy on Iowa. It’s the first state to vote in the Democratic primaries and plays a key role, so be prepared to hear a lot about this little state in the coming months. For perspective and background, please make sure to read last week’s edition as it explains some of the general concepts of how Iowa works and why it’s so important.
Inside 2008 Iowa
We’ve been in contact with someone who caucused in the Ames, Iowa area in 2008 when Obama had his big surprise win. This detailed first-hand perspective offers key insights and below are the main points from the discussion (edited for clarity):
Background
“Obama ended up winning our precinct in terms of number of supporters, although it was a pretty close split between Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. None of the other candidates were viable in our precinct that year.”
Minor candidates get eliminated or considered “non-viable” quickly
“People break up into groups and count off, and then whoever is running the precinct is doing math on who is or isn't at 15 percent, all while people are darting back and forth and trying to poach supporters from groups that they think might be under 15 percent. Then nonviable candidates are announced.”
Few are undecided
“In principle, people make speeches to try to convince folks to change to their candidate. In practice what I've seen in everyone just splits apart to talk and then reforms half an hour later and the process repeats.”
It’s not run by neutral, non-partisan organizers
“One important thing to keep in mind with caucuses is that the logistics of dividing and counting noses leaves a lot of room for decisions that favor one candidate or another and the people making those decisions aren't special non-partisans; they are just people who show up to the caucus and probably support a particular candidate.”
It’s messy
“For example, in 2008 our caucus was in an elementary school gym and it quickly became clear that more people were showing up than could fit in the gym. So the acting chair (who was wearing a Clinton shirt or button, I forget what the specific indicator was), decided the solution was to have Obama supporters go gather in another room. So all the minor candidates supporters were in a room with Clinton and Edwards supporters when the math was done and their original candidate was declared nonviable.”
Planning and preparation are key
“In the first count I think there were people standing in groups for Dodd and Kucinich — maybe there were others as well. Kucinich had given instructions before the caucuses that if his supporters weren't viable in a given precinct they should move en masse over to Edwards. I think he had two precinct captains, they'd been talking to the group of supporters during the counting/arguing/math and so as soon as who was nonviable was announced they just got up and walked over as a unit.”
“I don't think there is a lot of hope in winning over people at the caucus itself to get above 15 percent, but it's definitely possible to lay the groundwork in advance by reaching out to other people in the neighborhood who are supporting other candidates who may not have enough support and talking strategy beforehand.”
Going into the Iowa caucuses with somewhere close to 15 percent support is vital as we’re probably not changing many minds at the caucus. With the new $1 million TV ad campaign push in Iowa, the campaign seems committed to do everything it can to get us there.
To do your part in Iowa, donate to keep the ads going strong:
And sign up for Yang Week:
It’s also vital we keep being #HumanityFirst to everyone especially the other minor candidates and their supporters. Andrew is leading by example in this by supporting other candidates even if it isn’t obvious why.
In the long run, we need as many people to come over to our side as possible. If we try to fight everyone tooth and nail, it is very possible none of the minor candidates will be considered “viable” in Iowa. Even if they don’t drop out their supporters will have to go somewhere in the caucuses. The more we play up how everyone likes Yang, the more chances we win Iowa.
Trickle-Up campaign
Decentralized, distributed, trickle up, bottom up, whatever you want to call it — we do it better than anyone else. These next charts may be a little nerdy — even for the Yang Gang Wisdom crowd — but it tells the story clearly. In other campaigns, core followers amplify the message from central command. In the Yang Gang, we amplify pro-Yang messages from all over the place!
Everyone is doing their own thing in their own way to help Andrew become our next President. This lets the campaign conserve precious resources and be strategic about which fires to pour gasoline on.
Source
Yang Gang Dividend results
The Yang Gang spirit is all about independent action and making things happen. There’s no better example of that than what has been accomplished by movements like #Truckers4Yang and #HumanityFirstDays.
We wanted to know if there was a chance distributing resources (money) to dedicated Yang Gang around the country could increase the impact of this spirit. If so, then it’s something that we should explore — or at least think about further.
A few weeks ago, we asked you –the Yang Gang — “what would you do with $1,000 a month to promote Andrew Yang?” This is what you had to say.
Trends
Source: Google Forms
If given a hypothetical “Yang Gang Dividend” of $1,000 a month to promote Andrew Yang, we see most people would mainly spend the money on promotional materials and focus on face-to-face interactions. When asked about specific plans, more than 80 percent of respondents had an in-person activity component to what they would do.
Promotional materials
Source: Google Forms
Source: Twitter
Ok, so most respondents would spend the money on promotional materials. Lucky for us, some generous Yang Gangers have already taken it upon themselves to spread the #YangGangLove and get materials out there:
The Yang campaign has started giving out promotional kits so get yours soon before they run out!
If you have a good printer, YangPrints is also a phenomenal resource for promotional materials.
The qualitative answers are normally the most fun and interesting aspects of these surveys — at least in my opinion. A few types of ideas popped up again and again in people’s written responses — most notably — billboards, events, and community-specific outreach.
“I was just at Dem Com meeting in VA and the Pete team was super nice to me and had a ton of great swag people were scooping up — I had Yang biz cards lol — they told me where they got the best deals on their pins, etc. for taking to events. I would invest in easy small swag, booth space, signage and get out to events in real life — online only goes so far, and then it’s an echo chamber. The Pete people scoff at too much twitter time because they are SUPER organized into state/district/city groups and constantly at live events. We should take note and replicate.”
Billboards
Billboards were a very popular idea and answer among the Yang Gang. It makes sense for Yang’s campaign more than others because of Yang’s broad appeal across traditional party lines. It also makes sense for the Yang Gang to do this because they are on the ground and live in the communities where these billboards would go up. Not to mention Yang’s natural appeal to truck-drivers, who I imagine see a lot of billboards.
And without even asking, the Yang Gang made it real…
Automation victims
Black community
“You have to create organic experiences that lead others to the campaign. As a Black American, I under the importance of this with our community, so that would be my main focus; sit downs that create content and highlight the struggles of my community but also providing a solution based on policies not political theater.”
This was just a sampling of what the Yang Gang had to say about being paid to Yang Gang. For the full results, click here.
Best of the Week
Yang Gang Spotlight
Huge respect goes out to @AnthonyPktMedia for making it through a tough day trying to Yang random people on the streets. We appreciate you!
Crowd
Art
Source / Original Source
Tinder Banking
Rideshare Banking
Card Banking
Hat Banking
Windshield Banking
Porch Banking
NFL Banking
Yang Banking v2.0
Long read
Andrew Yang Is Not Full of Shit by Wired
It’s a fun read and it’s nuanced. The article even highlighted things I didn’t realize before which is hard for anyone deep in the Yang Gang. First, Yang isn’t really a “tech entrepreneur” as he’s portrayed and described nearly everywhere. He’s actually a test-prep guy. Second, all these politicians have more money than him including the democratic socialists like Warren and Sanders! It also highlights once again, the lack of support for Yang has from the black community, which we already knew from our “Who is the Yang Gang?”survey results.
Bonus Q&A from the author
Podcast
Who’s Actually Electable in 2020 by The Daily (NY Times)
Here is another podcast that doesn’t mention Yang’s name once, but leaves an obvious gaping hole for why he’s the man for the job. In summary, the top three—Biden, Sanders, Warren—either lose to Trump or barely beat Trump. Most people say they want someone moderate or not too left leaning, but really it’s because they don’t know there’s a forward option. Listen until the end to find out which state is unanimously considered the friendliest and nicest (hint: it’s Iowa).
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