Organizing through stories: the role of emotions in increasing support for decarceration

Deep canvasing is an effective organizing tactic that uses story-sharing to increase public support for equity issues. This correlational study examines 2,240 deep canvass conversations a community organization had with voters about a decarceration ballot initiative considered in Los Angeles County’s March 2020 election. We analyzed the relationships between story-sharing and emotional expression on increased support for the initiative using multivariate regression. The results suggest that story-sharing does predict attitude change, but only when combined with emotional expression. This study implies that organizers may increase their efficacy by utilizing narratives to facilitate the expression of emotions about political issues.