From all over Australia, a small and young volunteer army of Bernie supporters are sending thousands of texts a day to the American public, urging them to back Senator Sanders in the Democratic Party primaries.

The primaries being held around the country from now until July will decide who goes up against President Trump in the November presidential election.

With only a few days before the first one in Iowa, Sanders has hit the front, or is at least running neck-and-neck with Joe Biden.

Share Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Whatsapp Bernie Sanders speaks to Iowa voters on January 25.

This is partly thanks to his enormous popularity among young people: A recent poll found more than half of his vote is 18-34 year olds.

Compare this with Biden, whose supporters are mostly over 50.

It's also down to a sophisticated campaign network that taps into the energy of volunteers, including those who aren't eligible to vote.

That network extends to Australia, where for the past four months about 40 supporters have been sending thousands of messages a day to American voters.

Rob, a 23-year-old in Sydney, told Hack he's been volunteering for a couple hours a day over the uni break and has mass-texted a lot of people in that time.

"I kinda feel like what happens in America is essential to the rest of the world," he said.

"Their politics has such a big impact on our politics here.

I'm very frustrated by this. I wish I could just focus on Australia, but the more I read, the more I realise how much depends on what happens in the US.

Share Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Whatsapp Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a meet the candidate event as a man wearing a Trump 2020 hat sits in the front row.

How the texting program works

To get started, Rob watched a 20-minute training video on Youtube, and was then added to a group on the internet messaging platform Slack.

Share Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Whatsapp Screenshot of the Bernie group Slack from the Youtube training video

This group is part of the Bernie 2020 campaign but mostly run by volunteers.

"There are people from all over the world," Rob said.

"There's thousands of people on there at a time, and in the thread there's hundreds of posts every couple of minutes."

"If you have an issue with someone you're texting you post it in the group and a more experienced volunteer assists you with it."

The volunteers use a separate program for texting American numbers.

Share Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Whatsapp Screenshot of the web-based texting program Spoke from the Youtube training video.

The volunteers are assigned batches of up to 1000 phone numbers. They mass-text them all and individually respond to those who reply.

Studies show people are much more likely to read text messages than emails.

"I've definitely had some genuine conversations," Rob said.

"It's about talking to people who are already on board and getting them to come to things."

Of course, not everyone is on board.

"It's a bit of a shock when you get on there - you don't really realise how many people love Trump. You forget what it's like in America," he said.

"One of the most common responses is 'I love Trump. MAGA.'"

'It's a class thing not a young people thing'

Rob and others are just small parts of an enormous campaign machine of between 6,000 and 7,000 volunteers who have been 'texting for Bernie'.

At last count, in early January, the Sanders campaign said it had sent over 88 million texts - nine times more than it sent in the whole of the 2016 campaign (Sanders ran for the nomination four years ago, and lost to Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump).

Chris, who runs the Australians Supporting Bernie Sanders Facebook page and organises texting for Bernie training workshops, told Hack the operation is far more sophisticated than in 2016, when web-based texting programs were only just emerging.

"In 2016 the infrastructure was pretty minimal," he said.

"This time they've had the texting from the launch of the campaign."

There's also about 10 times more Australians taking part than in 2016, and that could increase further, with workshops being held around the country.

He said that volunteers won't usually say they're from Australia, unless it comes up in the conversation.

Dr Thomas Adams, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Sydney, who is currently in Iowa covering the primaries, told Hack young people have come from around the world to help Sanders defeat his more moderate rivals in the primary contest.

A group of about seven Australians showed up there to volunteer," he said. "There was also a bunch of people from Germany.

He agreed the 2020 Sanders campaign was much more well-organised than in 2016, when the Senator had been more of a protest candidate.

He said that although Sanders was popular with young people, it was a mistake to say this was due to a generational divide.

"It's a class thing not a young people thing," he said.

"It just happens to be young people who have massive student debt and no health care and shitty wages.

"It's young people who are facing a future of climate change."

'I don't always convince, but people are intrigued'

Rob, the 23-year-old uni student, told Hack he had been particularly inspired by Sanders' policies on climate change and addressing economic inequality.

"So many politicians these days skirt around the tough conversations around class," he said.

In Australia we don't have any exciting candidates for people to rally around.

Share Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Whatsapp An Australian texting for Bernie training workshop.

Chris, the group organiser, said Sanders was the only politician who had ever inspired him.

"If there was an Australian version of Bernie I would get behind him or her," he said.

He said that, apart from the texting, he also does cold calls.

"Ten per cent of Americans say, 'Get your nose out of our business', but most people are interested and it usually becomes a talking point," he said.

"They say why are you making calls to America? And how are you making calls?"

"And what time is it over there?"

On these occasions, Chris tells them that Australia already has the kind of universal healthcare that Sanders wants to introduce to the US.

He also tells them the current Australian minimum wage is even higher than what Sanders has been proposing in their country.

"I explain my story about living in Australia and being inspired across the ocean," he said.

"I don't always convince voters but people are always intrigued why I'm going to all the effort."