Canvassing as a way of face to face communication in election campaigns: the case of Gumushane in the election campaigns of 2011

A great deal of research has been done relevant to the effects of canvassing implementations on election campaigns. The ways of canvassing such as turnout and persuasion have been emphasized on these campaigns. In general, canvassing is possibly thought to play an important role on the turnout of elections in the low-turnout districts. Likewise, canvassing method might be effective for persuading the voters in the high-turnout districts in the countries like Turkey.This present paper deals with the implementation criteria of canvassing method, whether the methods of canvassing are influential on the voters’ preferences or not, and how the voters perceive the images of candidates that make use of the canvassing in their election campaigns. In this study, three factors (impact, implementation and image) come out regarding the method of canvassing. Finally, canvassing method is a crucial element in terms of voters’ preferences in the election campaigns in the light of the variables in these mentioned factors according to the data analysis.