To survey or solicit opinions from people systematically, like when politicians knock on doors to ask for votes.
From 'canvas' (the cloth), possibly from the motion of tossing someone in a canvas sheet, or from Old French 'canevace.' The meaning shifted to political solicitation by the 18th century.
Modern political canvassing uses data science now—algorithms predict which voters to target based on online behavior, but the core method of going door-to-door hasn't fundamentally changed in 300 years.
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