During the fall, one of our great U of U Hinckley Institute interns, Sierra Denner, conducted a survey of our volunteers and supporters, and we’re delighted to share the results! A summary is copied below, or you can find even more details in the 10-page write-up here.

In other news, we are continuing to wait for the developments elsewhere, including (1) the state Supreme Court’s upcoming decision about the anti-gerrymandering lawsuit, (2) the state constitutional amendment about education funding and the state sales tax on groceries that is heading for the ballot in November, and (3) the possibility of a second state constitutional amendment (via HJR14, currently being debated in the state legislature) that would require a 60% supermajority vote for any ballot measure that includes a new tax or tax increase.  We will keep you posted… Also, not to get too negative (!) but in the news is this NY Times article on “Wildfire smoke will worsen, new study shows, and protections are few.”

Cheers,
Yoram and the Clean The Darn Air team

Clean The Darn Air October 2023 Survey Responses

By Sierra Denner

Summary of responses

Things that worked well

  1. Working with like-minded and enthusiastic peers.

  2. There were sufficient resources (packets, stickers, etc.) to keep the process running smoothly.

  3. The listings of signature-gathering events mostly identified events that were fun and exciting (although some were duds).

  4. Most respondents thought that campaign leadership was good (although additional leadership would be great, especially in key districts).

Things that were hard or could have been better

  1. Grabbing the public’s attention, especially at busy events.

  2. Facing rejection when approaching people for signatures.

  3. Recruiting friends and family to volunteer.

  4. It’s hard to think about joining another campaign due to disappointing results.

  5. It would help to have more in-person meetings to discuss plans and strategies.

Other insights

  1. The best way to get signatures was to use short pitches and quick connections.

  2. Many volunteers would have been fine with more communication through text messages instead of email, but a significant minority preferred email.

  3. Suggestions for improving signature counts included trying different locations and adjusting the time frame for signature collection.