The Institute of French Studies will present “Get Out the Vote! Campaign Techniques and Innovations to Mobilize Voters in France and in the U.S.”—a one-day symposium comparing American and French political campaigning—on Fri., Oct. 17.
President Obama’s 2008 field campaign capitalized on a decade of data-driven, professionally organized get-out-the vote campaigns. Inspired by the success of Obama’s first presidential campaign and the work of political scientists Alan Gerber and Donald Green, the political consulting firm Liegey, Muller, and Pons designed and implemented a voter mobilization project for the French Parti socialiste, which led them to run François Hollande’s successful 2012 field campaign.
Coming two weeks before the U.S. mid-term elections, the symposium discusses the rise of modern voter mobilization campaigns in both countries. Researchers from various disciplines as well as campaign managers and politicians from France and the U.S. will compare their points of view and analyze campaign habits and recent innovations. In addition, they will explore the impact of this kind of voter mobilization efforts on U.S. and French political cultures.
Speakers include: Marlon Marshall, principal deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Vincent Feltesse, Elysée political advisor and former member of the French National Assembly; Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America and former deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Guillaume Liegey, co-founder of Liegey Muller Pons, a startup specializing in data-driven field campaigns; Vincent Pons, assistant professor of economics at Harvard Business School and co-founder of Liégey Muller Pons; Donald Green, a professor of political science at Columbia University and co-author of Get Out the Vote! How to Increase Voter Turnout; Frédéric Sawicki, a professor of political science at Université Paris 1 – Panthéon – Sorbonne; Julien Talpin, a research fellow in political science at the CERAPS (CNRS) and Université de Lille 2; and Jonathan Nagler, a professor in NYU’s Department of Politics and co-author of Who Votes Now?: Demographics, Issues, Inequality, and Turnout in the United States.
The event, in English, is free and open to the public. Entry is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 212.998.8741 or email patrick.stancil@nyu.edu.
Subway Lines: 6 (Astor Place); A, B, C, D, E, F, M (West 4th Street); N, R (8th Street).
For a complete schedule of sessions, click here.
Reporters interested in attending the event must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.
The conference is co-sponsored by Liegey Muller Pons and NYU’s Department of Politics.