The effects of retail politics in the New Hampshire primary

Presidential candidates devote considerable time and resources to establishing contact with voters through direct mail, telephone banks, rallies and face-to-face campaigning, yet there Is little systematic research about the impact of such retail politics on voters. The New Hampshire primary provides an optimal context for examining the consequences of campaign contacts because of its strong tradition of interaction between candidates and voters. Using a unique data set drawn from five surveys conducted during the 1996 New Hampshire primary, we show that candidate contact influences voters' abilities to rate candidates, as well as their information about and favorability toward candidates. The effects of contact, however, are complex. Voters like and know more about the candidates whom they meet, but they also are more likely to experience contact with candidates whom they are predisposed to like.