Cluster of “VOTE” yard signs — visual peer pressure / everyone is voting.

Sep 28, 2026

Social Pressure in Your GOTV Program

Social pressure: we’ve all heard about it, but does it really work? As humans, we care a lot about social norms. Our desire to be liked and accepted by our peers shapes our behavior more than we’d like to admit. Humans lie about their bad behaviors and exaggerate their better tendencies, all in the name of fitting in.

Get Out the Vote for Political and Voter Turnout Campaigns

Get out the vote, better known as GOTV is the final phase of any campaign. The whole point of this phase is in the name: get your voters out to vote. This phase applies to electoral campaigns, voter turnout campaigns, and independent expenditure campaigns.

Social Pressure: Not Just for Big GOTV Campaigns Anymore

by The Campaign Workshop

Friend and mentor to The Campaign Workshop, Hal Malchow, wrote for Campaigns and Elections about applying social pressure GOTV tactics in smaller campaigns. Malchow reviews the history and science behind using social pressure as a tactic in GOTV, as well as current best practices.