Is political canvassing cold-calling?

I have lived in my house for 55 years, and have never, ever, had a political campaigner knock on my door. Maybe because I live right on the edge of our small town.
I would welcome one of any party to a doorstep debate, as long as they stood the required distance from me - masked, or unmasked.

I remember when I was a child, Jehovah Witnesses arrived at the door on a Sunday Morning. They asked my mother why she was not at church, she told them to "hold on a moment" got her coat and said 'my daughter's ill, will you look after her while I go to church?' They fled!!

Just put up a notice to say "No Canvassers, Religious callers" and anybody else you don't want to disturb you.

I understood that if you told the Jehovahs witnesses not to call in future, they were supposed to comply, but found this didn't work, and one year a particularly obnoxious representative refused to leave our property when politely asked, and said he had every right to stay there!! We just don't answer the door at Easter to anyone now (which is when the JWs operate round here), without checking the Ring doorbell CCTV. A very useful thing to have any time of the year.

Quite right PippaZ- and yes i agree with some others, wear a mask at the door, you never know how near they are going to try to get.- its one thing a parcel/shopping delivery person who stands a meter or so away, its another entirely with a 'cold caller' politician rep who might stand right on doorstep just to get more attention! (yes they are 'cold callers'- as its not been pre- arranged with you!)

Gwenisgreat that made me laugh! Not their business anyway?

Political canvassers? I wish!! You must be very privileged!! I haven't had one call for about 30 years!! I don't care if they wear a mask! I'd probably ask them to remove it anyway so that I could lip-read - not that I am hard of hearing, in fact I have supersensitive hearing which can be just as much of a disability! It's actually quite amazing how much subconscious lip-reading people do, but that is another discussion altogether!

GrannyRose15 - you are welcome any time to canvass my opinions!

We rarely see a political candidate here! They all just assume they're either going to maintain their majority or lose, which annoys the heck out of me. None of my local councillors are any good, but they keep getting voted for.

I have no idea whose standing this year and I'm going to take the stand of 'if they can't be bothered to canvas, I can't be bothered to vote for them.'

But back to the original question, I think it is cold calling, anyone I don't know knocking the door without an appointment is cold calling unless it's an emergency of course. Even the meter reader gets short shift if they haven't had to courtesy to ask if it's convenient first.

I would say religious and political groups are cold callers. I usually let them say their piece and reply “No thank you” but I do engage with the political ones!

I think such notices are useless anyway. We inherited a rather fancy one when we mkved here and people at the door wpuld point to it and then start to explain to me why it didn't apply to them!! Eg the guy from the double glazing comany wasnt selling anything in his mind because all he did was make appointments for the salesman to call.

We changed the door and didn't bother replacing the sign.

I doubt that people canvassing for political parties are cold callers.

I would personally either put on a mask and answer the door, or call through it to hear which party they are canvassing for.

Then you can either tell them that their party already has your vote, if that is the case and you feel it is any business of theirs, or simply say you are not interested.

If the guidance for callers requires the caller to wear a mask and he/she doesn’t, I’d certainly not be trusting them or the organisation they represent!
Even if it’s not a rule, surely they should be extra sensitive to people who may still be shielding or at risk?

PippaZ

M0nica

'cold calling' means someone visiting without appointment with the intention of selling you something - double glazing or whatever.

Someone, like a political canvasser, Jehovah's Witness, or someon knocking on you your door to say the house is on fire ar not cold callers.

I accept the person telling you your house is on fire is just being a good neighbour but the Jehovah's witnesses and political door knockers are definitely cold callers - they are selling their beliefs. You are totally entitled not to want to hear their spiel!

You can always say 'Thank You - but NO, Thank You! Please leave my doorstep.', then politely, but firmly close the door.

I'm sure that any cold-callers without bad intentions would just leave at your request.

If somebody persists with their spiel, you can always tell them that the Police will be called - along with the local Neighbourhood Watch Co-Ordinator.

IMO cold calling means selling-whether directly-or setting up appointments.
The occasional political canvasser we get gives me an opportunity to ask them what their party has done/is doing about . . . e.g. the potholes on the road where I work or the fly-tipping on the country roads in our district. It’s fun to watch them wriggle, especially when I can whisk out my phone and show pics.
The only ones who ever seemed to know anything about their district were the Liberal party, but that was a long time ago when we lived in Liverpool.

M0nica

'cold calling' means someone visiting without appointment with the intention of selling you something - double glazing or whatever.

Someone, like a political canvasser, Jehovah's Witness, or someon knocking on you your door to say the house is on fire ar not cold callers.

I would say yes those are cold calling too. They don't have appointments or any other reason to think I would want to see them

My notice provided by Police Scotland includes religious groups charities et al in the definition and I'd regard politicians as cold callers I would always answer the door masked if at all

i hate cold callers and like above I deliberately do not wear a mask and I clear my throat to let them think I am getting a cough. That usually gets rid of them.

greenlady102

M0nica

'cold calling' means someone visiting without appointment with the intention of selling you something - double glazing or whatever.

Someone, like a political canvasser, Jehovah's Witness, or someon knocking on you your door to say the house is on fire ar not cold callers.

I would say yes those are cold calling too. They don't have appointments or any other reason to think I would want to see them

And they could well be after your money. Join either group and see how often the ask for it. It doesn't mean you shouldn't buy in to their beliefs but I think it could well mean they should be holding a town hall/village hall meeting you can choose to go to our not and not "cold calling".

I usually tell religious callers that I'm into witchcraft, that tends to get them scurrying down the path clutching their bibles.

In 22 years I've never had a political canvasser call. I think they take it for granted that everyone here votes Conservative, which sadly seems to be true,

Savvy ? - I’ll remember that! Though thank goodness I haven’t seen a JW around here for quite a while. They used to come regularly, despite being asked politely not to call again. They were frankly a bloody nuisance.

I had a phone call yesterday from someone canvassing on behalf of one of the main parties. He explained that he wouldn't be coming door to door at this time, because of the pandemic. I must say i had a much more interesting conversation with him on the hone than i'd have had face to face on the doorstep.

I have zero time for any canvassers ringing our buzzer - and I include my own party in that. I know how I will vote and have no intention of entering into discussion about that. I get emails from all the major political parties - knocking on doors is so old fashioned!

I regularly canvass for my political party and hardly ever receive the unpleasant, hostile reaction most of the grannies on here seem to enjoy giving. In my experience, people like to see the candidates face to face and having the opportunity to talk about local issues. When someone is committing to give their time to represent you, why does it seem to give some of you such pleasure to be rude?

Like Severnside, I canvass for the political party I belong to. I was delivering leaflets yesterday ( not allowed to knock on doors yet in Scotland). Political canvassing is not included in the formal definition of cold calling. I put leaflets through doors displaying " no cold callers" but not through the one door which said " no leaflets". I think we should all be glad when political literature or callers come to our door. It is part of being in a democracy and an opportunity to make sure we know the principles and policies of every party/ individual standing in an election. We shouldn't take this for granted and I certainly wouldn't want to live in a country where questioning those in power can land you in prison or worse. If anyone does not want to talk to someone canvassing at the door, the caller should, of course, leave immediately. I've also knocked on doors delivering leaflets and spoken to people in the street about my Christian faith. I'm never rude or aggressive towards anyone and have only experienced aggression ( not physical) once or twice - one of those was a man who appeared to be incandescent about getting a fairly generic leaflet about the EU which was actually addressed to another family member. Let's do our best to value and protect the political and religious freedom we have.