01-06 Survey Addressing-1

8/7/2019 01-06 Survey Addressing-1

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REPORT ON THE 2011 SURVEY

Dear Fellow Democrat,

In January we asked Democrats across the state to participate in our 2011 Survey. The response was bothoverwhelming and incredibly informative.

Among the highlights of the survey were the responses we received to the question: why are you a Democrat?

Many were nothing short of inspirational. Others told us heartbreaking personal stories about how the policy

issues being debated today affect their lives. Your responses served as a reminder of the values and priorities

that define what it means to be a Democrat and the reasons why we will never stop fighting for what is right,

even when the odds seem stacked against us.

After looking through these touching and thought-provoking responses, I wanted to share some of them with

you along with some very interesting data. (insert link to report)

This report includes key survey findings as well as a large sampling of answers we received to open-endedquestions. And we did not select only the answers from those of you who had nice things to say – we

appreciate and understand the need for constructive criticism. None of the personal answers in this reportwere attributed to individuals and no personal information was shared unless the respondent explicitlyconsented to allow us to use their names.

Immediately after we started receiving responses, we responded to people who asked for more information on

certain programs. More importantly, we combed the responses for good ideas that we could immediately beginintegrating into our plans and day to day operations – and we received a bounty of great ideas and information

We learned a lot about how Texas Democrats get and share their political news, what issues are mostimportant to them and how the Democratic Party could be more effective in their communities. And we read

each and every response.

The survey proved to be an excellent tool to hear opinions and ideas from grassroots Democrats that we maynot have heard otherwise, and we shall surely be doing more of these in the future.

The survey provided so much useful information that we have added this page (link) to our website. By clickingthis link (link) you can go to a virtual suggestion box that will allow you to send us your feedback, thoughts,criticisms, suggestions, etc…

Regardless of whether you had words of praise or criticism, I want to offer my sincere thanks to all of you who

participated. Your feedback was valuable, taken to heart and is being put into action. And whether you

participated or not, I genuinely hope you will be a voice in this ongoing conversation about the Party we are allproud to be a part of.

Your Friend and Proud Fellow Democrat,

ChairmanTexas Democratic Party

“Thank you for offering this

opportunity, and, more importantly, for having a planning process, communicating

with Democrats in Texas and enlisting

our support and help. I believe that

organization, "knowing your people"

community by community and street by

street, is the key to success, and that

you are moving in the right direction.”

Nancy in Fort Worth



YOUR DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ADDRESSING YOUR CONCERNS

This section outlines some of the concerns and suggestions you raised and presents the ways we areaddressing your concerns and putting your ideas into action.

“I am so disappointed that the majority of Texans support Rick Perry, Ican't even think straight. TDP needs to stay on message that Rick Perry

caused this financial crisis. Rick Perry is not responding to the

financial crisis. And Rick Perry downplayed and lied about Texas economic

situation right until AFTER he won re-election. Get that message out now.

Don’t let Texans forget why we are suffering right now and who got us to

this low point. Keep that message loud for the next 4 years. Target it at

rural areas.”

Ashley in Austin

Ashley hit on a very important point which isbecoming painfully obvious these days. TheRepublicans, from Rick Perry on down, have

not only thrown our state into a financial crisisbut are further sacrificing our shared future by

passing a House budget that devastates publiceducation, higher education, social services,elderly care and more.

The TDP communications staff has been

working to deliver a message through media,emails, social media, a website that describeshow this Republican budget is impacting

Texans every day. And we’re working to involveDemocrats statewide in the effort to deliver that

message by distributing information and talking

points to Party leaders and activists.

In addition, we recently started a petition in

response to a report that said Texas would lose

upwards of 335,000 jobs under the Houseversion of the state budget. After one week thepetition was up to 3,000 signatures.




“Continue to provide active leadership and inform communities of what ishappening in local, county, state and national government. Most issues aretime sensitive and there needs to be a team of activist ready to respond to all issues on all levels of govt. Develop a team system and make sureeveryone has the same TALKING POINTS!”

A Democrat in Grand PrairieSeveral of you also asked for more useful talking

points that provide clear, succinct Democratic

arguments about the hot-button issues of the day.TDP kicked off the “Party Insider” email list inJanuary and over 900 Democrats are now

receiving talking points, message guidance andfrequent updates to help you better articulate the

Democratic message.

It’s easy to sign up athttp://www.txdemocrats.org/party-insider-sign-up/.

“First of all, there needs to be credible DIVERSE experts with street cred in their own communities.”

Nata in Houston

Many of you remarked on how important it is

that the Democratic Party do a better job of getting our message to every corner of the

state. TDP also recognized the need to build a

message delivery structure, and early this year kicked off a surrogate messaging programwhich is designed to work with Democrats

across the state who will take the responsibilityto get out our message on the air in everymedia market.

We cannot afford to cede any argument to theRepublicans. We have to challenge them on

the air, where their statewide officeholders have

easy access to get their message out.Although the program is just getting off theground, we’ve generated some beneficial

coverage in the several media markets,

demonstrating that we can get favorable media

coverage in places where we have not been onthe air recently.

CAMERON COUNTY CHAIRMAN GILBERTO HINOJOSA

DELIVERING THE DEMOCRATIC VIEW ON THE VOTER

ID BILL




“Produce short videos that can be shared on social networking sites to

bolster support for and educate people on issues.”

James in Rowlett

One of the important lessons learned from

the 2010 election cycle was that message

delivery must utilize every availablemedium. To that end, the TDP has made a

concerted effort to utilize video more in our

communications.

For example, here’s a video of ChairmanBoyd Richie speaking to the Texas Young

Democrats about the differences betweenDemocrats and Republicans, and

explaining why we are better.

In the coming weeks we’ll be releasing

several videos on some of the big issuesbeing debated in the legislature.

When asked which topics people would like us to do webinars on, a Democrat

from Houston asked that we do trainings on “TEC workshop/webinar for clubs(ethics compliance).” Campaign finance regulations can be

extremely difficult to understand and theTDP compliance department has been hardat work developing a more aggressive

campaign finance educational outreach

program.

Our goal is to provide candidates, county

chairs, SDEC members and party activists

the tools and information they need to be aseffective in elections as possible. In

addition to webinar trainings, we also sendemail notices to candidates and countychairs about reporting deadlines and

changes in campaign finance law.

There are several webinars scheduledthroughout this year and our compliance

department is always available to answer questions from Texas Democrats.




“Training, training, training for volunteers, precinct chairs, everyone on

what it takes to get our candidates elected.”

Shari in Rowlett

We take our responsibility to train Democrats on every

aspect of Party activity very seriously at TDP, and quite

a few of you expressed a strong desire that we continueto make training a priority, which we fully intend to do.

We actually have quite a few training programsincluding:

TDP Campaign Camps for candidates and staff

TDP Campaign Academy for staffers who agreeto participate in a lengthy training program andwho are then deployed to a campaign.

TDP Webinars on virtually every subject you

can think of and which are conducted online.

Regional Trainer Program allows us to train

Democrats from around the state on how toconduct their own trainings for the people in

their community.

Here’s the full listing of training resources the TDP hasavailable:http://www.txdemocrats.org/resources/training/

And here is a Grassroots Handbook you can download:http://www.txdemocrats.org/resources/grassroots-

handbook/




“support statewide candidates; recruit and support Texas House District

candidates; educate activists and voters on the statewide, Congressional,

and state legislature candidates; recruit candidates who are qualified for

the office and who will represent real Democratic values faithfully and

proudly”

Mary in DallasCandidate support was another frequently

mentioned topic.

For prospective candidates we have somebasic resources that we produced to help

them understand exactly what they aregetting themselves into and, if they decide

to run, that will help them navigate theprocess.

We also offer training programs aimed at

helping candidates work with the media,develop campaign plans, understandcampaign finance law and several more.

And of course the TDP staff, many of whom have extensive campaign

experience, are always available to meet

with and mentor candidates. http://www.txdemocrats.org/resources/candidate-resources/

Paid for by the Texas Democratic Party, www.txdemocrats.org.

This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

01-06 Survey Addressing-1

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