Do the numbers of political bumper stickers and such mean anything?

[PigBoy]

This would be GQ material if I suspected that there were any real studies on this. But I don't, so I'll just see what people have noticed in their experience.

Has anyone noticed if the prevalence of bumper stickers and signs for one candidate tends to be reflected in election results? (In an area that is actually in contention, that is- obviously the lack of Bush bumper stickers in a place like Massachusetts, for example, would accurately reflect the leanings there.)

I've been seeing a lot of Bush/Cheney bumper stickers around here. As someone who does not wish to see Bush re-elected, this has me worried. Given Ohio's apparent importance in the upcoming election and the very "average American" quality of the Dayton-area population, I feel like my side is doomed if the local populace favors Bush. Am I right to read anything into the number of bumper stickers, or does one side just tend to be louder than the other?

[JohnT]

Here in E. TN the number of Bush/Cheney bumper stickers outweighed the number of Gore/Lieberman bumper stickers by at least 10:1. While the rest of the state (Nashville, on west to Memphis) went to Gore, the vote for Bush was so overwhelming on the eastern side of TN that the state went to Bush. I truly believe that, FL notwithstanding of course, the election was decided when Gore lost his home state. Had he won it, FL wouldn't have mattered.

[dalej42]

Well, in my part of Columbus, OH I see a lot of Kerry signs and stickers. As much as I'd like to see Kerry win, I'm not sure that the number of bumper stickers means too much.

I just can't see a lot of senior citizens and executive level employees putting bumper stickers on their cars. However, I can see them voting in November.

[hermann]

I don't put too much stock into the quantity of bumperstickers. The only way I'd deface my car with one is if they paid me.

[elfkin477]

What does still seeing "Gore 2000" stickers tell us? Besides the car being at least 4 years old.

[Tikki]

Speaking of defacing, someone took exception to a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker (http://www.komotv.com/news/story_m.asp?ID=32534) here the other day. Yeah, I want to vote for Bush now. :rolleyes:


Here on the western side of my state, you're more likely to find Kerry stickers (and at least one irate Bushie, apparently.) We're going over to the eastern side tomorrow, where I expect to find a lot more Bush stickers. But in the long run, most people don't have them on their cars, so I don't think you can predict the winner by stickers alone.

My favorite sticker lately is "I'm Bushed. Kerry Me." :)

[ITR champion]

If you took a poll in Claremont or surrounding cities in the fall of 2000, you would have concluded that area was about evenly split between Nader and Bush. But of course Gore took the district by a solid margin. I'm spending this summer in Wyoming and seeing a preponderence of pro-Kerry stickers here, despite the fact that Bush got his largest percentage of any state in Wyoming in 2000.

My personal favorite: "Dick + Bush = Screwed".