THE decisive battle in Tuesday’s US election will be the “ground game” to get voters to the booth, says former Labor candidate for Calare Jess Jennings.
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Dr Jennings is in New York with his wife Kate and daughter Lola to volunteer his support for Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
They landed in New York late on November 1 and have since taken part in a number of campaign events.
If all goes to plan, though, the highlight will be attending Ms Clinton’s victory party in New York on Tuesday night – just 10 blocks from Donald Trump’s famous Trump Towers – after queueing in a line that snaked on for more than a block to get tickets.
Dr Jennings has also hit the phones in a Clinton campaign office in Harlem and attended a rally with outgoing president Barack Obama in New Hampshire.
He said the sheer scale of the election dwarfed anything he had seen in Australia and while he was confident of a Clinton victory, Dr Jennings said non-compulsory voting in the US made it hard to place much faith in of the published polls.
“The big thing for both the Democrats and Republicans will be the ground game getting people to vote and what are the networks they are using to make that occur,” he said.
“That’s what Obama did so well, particularly using a digital campaign.
“The Democrats are contacting a massive number of people making sure they are going to vote, making sure they know where to vote and even asking them when they’re going to vote.
“Putting aside the getting out to vote factor, though, the non-compulsory voting in the US means you can’t believe any polls because if have a section of the community that just doesn’t come out to vote then it changes everything.”
Dr Jennings said he could spend polling day on a polling booth or hitting the phones again to garner support.
While there was electricity in the air leading up to the poll, he said the general public was also starting to suffer some “electoral fatigue”.
“It’s been a long, negative campaign – and, I would have to say, not a lot of talk about policy – but there have been a few flashes of scandal and rancour along the way to keep people interested,” he said.
“I think quite a few people are really just over it all.”
