Mamdani Field Lead Survey · Full Sample (n=290)

Personal recruitment and volunteer outcomes in the Mamdani field program

A majority of survey respondents report that someone personally asked them to take on greater responsibility during the campaign. This page reports recruitment rates at three linked stages, compares personally recruited respondents with the remainder on each outcome the survey measures, and notes which differences are statistically significant.

Definitions

The grouping variable is Q7.3: "During the campaign, did anyone personally ask you to take on greater responsibility?" Of 290 respondents, 214 answered it. The 152 who answered yes are labeled asked; the 62 who answered no are labeled not asked.

"Not asked" does not mean these respondents held no leadership role. Of the 60 in this group who answered the field lead item, 58 were field leads, and nearly all completed a group training. The question measures a personal, individualized request. Respondents who answered no generally entered the role on their own initiative, typically by signing up for a training after a general announcement. The comparison is therefore between personal recruitment and self-initiated entry, within a pool of people who almost all led.

Figure 1

Recruitment rates at three linked stages

The survey contains three questions that, read in sequence, describe a chain of recruitment. Each rate below is conditional on the step before it.

Step 1 · Was personally asked

71%

of respondents were personally asked to take on greater responsibility.

152 of 214 answering Q7.3

Step 2 · Asked someone else

61%

of the asked went on to make the same request of another volunteer. Among the not-asked, the rate was 43% (p = .015).

92 of 151, vs. 26 of 61

Step 3 · Recruits recruited

66%

of those who made such requests report that a person they recruited later recruited others. Among those who made no requests, 26%.

78 of 118, vs. 24 of 92 (Q6.9)

The survey did not ask respondents how many people they recruited; each link is a yes or no item. Counts appear only incidentally in open-ended responses ("I probably recruited like 16 field leads," "around 5 across the primary and general," "about 1000 Reach users"). A follow-up instrument that asked for an approximate count would allow this chain to be expressed as a multiplier rather than a set of rates.

Figure 2

Outcome measures by recruitment status

Each row compares asked and not-asked respondents on one outcome. Percentages are computed among group members who answered the outcome item. Tests are two-sided two-proportion z-tests.

Asked (n = 148 to 152) Not asked (n = 55 to 62) ** p<.01 · * p<.05 · ns not significant. Hover a row for counts.

Statistically significant. All six survive a false-discovery correction (note 2).

Involvement increased substantially over the campaign

72%50%

+22 **

asked 109/152 (72%) · not asked 31/62 (50%) · p = .002

Took on a political role they would not have taken before

66%46%

+20 **

asked 99/150 (66%) · not asked 27/59 (46%) · p = .007

Asked someone else to take on greater responsibility

61%43%

+18 *

asked 92/151 (61%) · not asked 26/61 (43%) · p = .015

Reports being much more confident leading a group of volunteers

68%52%

+17 *

asked 103/151 (68%) · not asked 32/62 (52%) · p = .022

Reports being much more confident recruiting others into political action

42%26%

+16 *

asked 64/152 (42%) · not asked 16/62 (26%) · p = .025

Made a friend on the campaign

95%85%

+10 *

asked 142/150 (95%) · not asked 51/60 (85%) · p = .020

Not statistically significant

Felt tired of canvassing or considered stopping

55%47%

+8 ns

asked 83/152 (55%) · not asked 28/60 (47%) · p = .297

Holds a formal leadership role since the campaign

50%44%

+6 ns

asked 74/148 (50%) · not asked 26/59 (44%) · p = .441

Volunteered for another campaign or organization since

84%78%

+6 ns

asked 124/148 (84%) · not asked 46/59 (78%) · p = .324

Someone followed up on their commitments during the campaign

91%85%

+6 ns

asked 131/144 (91%) · not asked 47/55 (85%) · p = .257

Took a job in politics or organizing since

26%24%

+2 ns

asked 38/148 (26%) · not asked 14/59 (24%) · p = .771

Table 1. Outcome measures by recruitment status, all eleven comparisons

Outcome	Asked	Not asked	Diff.	p
Involvement increased substantially	109/152 (72%)	31/62 (50%)	+22	.002	**
Took on a political role they would not have before	99/150 (66%)	27/59 (46%)	+20	.007	**
Asked someone else to take on responsibility	92/151 (61%)	26/61 (43%)	+18	.015	*
Much more confident leading a group	103/151 (68%)	32/62 (52%)	+17	.022	*
Much more confident recruiting others	64/152 (42%)	16/62 (26%)	+16	.025	*
Made a friend on the campaign	142/150 (95%)	51/60 (85%)	+10	.020	*
Considered stopping	83/152 (55%)	28/60 (47%)	+8	.297	ns
Formal leadership role since	74/148 (50%)	26/59 (44%)	+6	.441	ns
Volunteered for another campaign since	124/148 (84%)	46/59 (78%)	+6	.324	ns
Someone followed up on commitments	131/144 (91%)	47/55 (85%)	+6	.257	ns
Took a politics or organizing job since	38/148 (26%)	14/59 (24%)	+2	.771	ns

Notes on interpretation

These are cross-sectional associations. Respondents who were more involved were presumably more likely to be noticed and asked, and respondents who were asked may have become more involved as a result. The design cannot separate the two directions.
Eleven tests were run. The six significant results jointly survive a Benjamini-Hochberg false-discovery correction at q = .05.
The significant differences concentrate in measures of involvement, confidence, and role-taking. Measures of post-campaign activity (volunteering, holding a position, employment) show small differences that do not reach significance.
A twelfth item, "Did you join DSA?" from the post-campaign section, was excluded. Cross-tabulation with the affiliation item (Q2.8) shows that 91% of respondents who joined DSA during the campaign, and 37% of pre-campaign members, also answered yes to it. Respondents evidently read the item as asking whether they had ever joined, so it cannot measure post-campaign joining.
Group sizes vary by row because 83 of 290 respondents partially completed the survey.