Democrats Are Building the Ground Game They Wish They’d Had in 2020. They’re Not Sure How Much It’ll Matter.

Democrats have regrets about their campaigning during the pandemic. This year, they’re going all out to make sure they leave nothing to chance.

Residents vote at their voting precinct.

Andrew Harnik/AP

Democrats are hoping to tap into every advantage that they didn’t have last time they had to run against Donald Trump, including that they’re not running in a global pandemic.

They just aren’t sure exactly how much difference an infinitely more robust ground game will make.

Kamala Harris’ campaign and an array of liberal groups have built a massive door-to-door canvassing operation, the kind of comprehensive voter-outreach effort they were unable to do in 2020. They hope it can help the party turn out voters — many of them in cities and dismissive of any political communication other than a face-to-face conversation — who didn’t come out to vote four years ago.