By Trevor Hunnicutt
(Reuters) – Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign will send supporters to solicit possible voters in person, two aides said on Thursday, shifting tactics in the final weeks of the race after shunning door-knocking efforts in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Several hundred volunteers will fan out across several critical states in support of Biden and with new training from the campaign, focused on voters who may be difficult to reach by phone or online.
The Biden campaign’s effort is starting in several key states – Nevada, Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania – with plans to expand the effort over the remaining 33 days until the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The former vice president’s lightweight door-knocking operation has drawn critiques from allies who argued that in-person outreach can be done safely even in the face of an ongoing pandemic and is more powerful a tool for persuasion.
Allies also warned the campaign that a low-key field operation by the campaign could be hurting them in key battleground states, where Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign has been aggressively recruiting voters in person. But the campaign has maintained that its remote outreach was reaching voters and engaging them successfully.
The campaign had already resumed dropping pamphlets and will start in-person conversations in the coming days, with a focus on doing so safely, one of the people said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
