As I was driving to work today it occured to me that I have not seen nearly as many Presidental campaign signs in yards then I remember from 2004 and 2008. In both of those my neighborhood was littered with signs from both sides, this year there are none. Even on my commute I can count the signs for both sides on one hand. There are plenty for local and state office campaigns, but almost none for the Presidental race. Is this something that anyone else has noticed? and theories on why it might be?
My guess is that neither side is really fired up about thier candidate and the ones who are have migrated thier support on-line more then in any other year.
I did a 200 mile round trip yesterday. I saw a total of 3 houses with Obama signs. I saw 3 more with ‘fire Obama’ over the ‘war on coal’. I couldn’t really estimate how many Romney/Ryan signs I saw, but most intersections (public property) were plastered with them and other similar local candidates.
In Wisconsin, there hasn’t been as many signs as in the past. However, during the Walker recall election build-up, there were lots and lots of yard signs. I’m guessing it may be election fatigue or something.
Every day, I drive past the county Republican headquarters (a very heavily leaning R county, too), and I’d just commented to a friend last Sunday that there wasn’t a Romney sign from them (it’s along a busy state highway with plenty of greenspace for signs), but there were signs for Tommy Thompson and Paul Ryan (for the House). Of course, the next day a Romney/Ryan sign went up, but I was surprised it took so long. But still, fewer yard signs for both candidates is what I’ve noticed.
In Brevard County I’ve seen slightly more lawn signs for the primaries than for the actual election. With a 10% edge in registered Republicans, this makes sense. The number of lawn signs has dropped in recent weeks.
Wisconsinite here too, I concur. There aren’t many of either side in my county and one of the very few Romney signs is in my neighbors yard. I’ve resisted putting an Obama one up in defiance as long as there aren’t anymore. Which it looks likely to be the case.
You pretty much never see one in Nevada - at least in the area where I live - and you also rarely see a bumper sticker.
I think people figure there is no need to risk some crazy ass idiot ripping the sign out of your yard, or keying your car in a parking lot, just to make a point of who you think people should vote for.
In the old days, people would also wear a button with their candidate/party on it. I don’t think I have seen one of those in ages.
Then again, I think these displays are somewhat moot. Same with a bumper sticker that says, “Proud To Be An American!” Well, duh…do you think everyone else in traffic is muttering “Damn, I wish I were Ukrainian…”
Yeah, nothing presidential here in the Chicago suburbs. I think I pass one Romney sign and some delusional optimist with a Ron Paul sign in his yard. Or maybe the homeowner there died in April and no one has found him yet.
Plenty of signs for state legislature. Almost nothing for federal congressional seats.
Writing as a former (and future, who knows!) candidate yard signs have been on the way out, campaign-wise, for quite a while. They’re very expensive to produce and have limited efficacy.
I know that some federal and state-level campaigns have begun charging county parties for more than a token amount. Essentially they can get some for major intersections and such but more for individual supports come with a cost. That’s the extent to which they’re held in low esteem.
So it’s not surprising that we’re seeing fewer this election cycle. I used to collect the things and now I can’t.
Yeah, I heard a radio interview where a campaign consultant said that lawn signs have basically zero impact on a national election. They are only useful in local elections where name recognition is an issue. Plus they are expensive and annoy the populace when not cleaned up after the election.
So basically, you can get a lawn sign if you really want but they will make you pay for it and won’t encourage you much.
I guess that makes sense and it also makes sense that local race signs are still going strong. Anyone planning on voting already knows who the the presidential candidates are. Simply making people familiar with your name may have greater impact for state senator or county comptroller.
Around here, I’ve seen a fair number of signs for local candidates, but they seem to be paired with Presidential signs (mostly Obama, but that’s just because I live in one of the more liberal suburbs, and otherwise am mostly in the city of Cleveland itself).
I keep hearing the “Yard signs are useless until they grow legs and vote” thing all the time. But the point isn’t to convince anyone, but as a service to the “down ballot” candidates and initiatives. If I have an Obama sign, a Claire McCaskall sign and a “Yes! on Prop…” sign, that lets lower information voters know what and who other Obama voters support. Yard signs are cheap, and if 2010 taught us anything, the White House is not worth much without support in Congress. The top of the tickets need to get over themselves and get some damn signs out there!
Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the majority of the yard signs no longer have party affiliations on them. The only way to tell for sure is the presence or absence of the Union printer’s “bug”. And there are plenty of primary-winning putative “Republicans” that any number of conservatives would prefer to not vote for - like Claire McCaskill’s lunatic-fringe opponent. Yards with a Romney for President sign paired with a Claire McCaskell for Senate sign (she is a fairly conservative Democrat) would have some amount of impact.
Yard signs are ridiculous expensive for the voter tho. I got 2 in the past few years for local issues and they were like $20. No way!
I am seeing a lot of huge multi-ticket signs for local elections in front of businesses. Or rather key intersections That seems sorta new at least here.
Right, yard signs don’t have the party affiliation. The party affiliation is listed in the only place it really matters, the ballot. Are people really going to remember the grouping of eight lawn signs, or are they going to go by the letter on the ballot?
And furthermore, if you think Romney wants McCaskell to beat Akin, you’re dreaming. In 99.9% of cases, the up-ticket candidate wants the party to win. Probably 100% except for that one time David Duke got on the ballot 20 years ago.