Do campaign signs work?

[MogulQueen]

There are about.....a thousand campaign signs going up in my town. As I drove by a ribbon of names I thought, this isn't really effective. I'm not even sure of all the names I cruised by, but more keep going up. What do you think. Do campaign signs influence your vote?

 

[severine]

We were just talking the other day about how annoying they are. I look at them as litter more than anything else; no influence on for whom I will vote.

 

[RootDKJ]

I don't get them either. Looks like vandalism when you seem them plastered down the median of a highway.

 

[o3jeff]

Did anyone else when they were young go around collecting them then put them all in one persons yard?

 

[severine]

Did anyone else when they were young go around collecting them then put them all in one persons yard?

I suspect you have some wild stories from your youth to share! 8)

 

[drjeff]

In my town, we have people from 3 parties running for selectman, and each candidate for 1st selectman has a name that about 15 letters long with only 2 or 3 of the letters being vowels. Far, far too many letters to even comprehend each name as you're driving by them at 40mph. Even worse for me is the street that I live on is about 1/4 mile from my towns middle school which is the lone polling site in town, so that road is just covered with lawn sign after lawn sign after lawn sign

 

[Warp Daddy]

IMHO these fugly signs are a visual pollutant and have ABSOLUTELY zero influence on how i vote. Moreover many of the idiots leave these things up long after the election has ended

 

[bvibert]

I hate those damn signs! If anything I'm more likely to vote AGAINST the person who's name I see plastered everywhere.

 

[riverc0il]

There are about.....a thousand campaign signs going up in my town. As I drove by a ribbon of names I thought, this isn't really effective. I'm not even sure of all the names I cruised by, but more keep going up. What do you think. Do campaign signs influence your vote?

I don't think campaign signs influence votes. But a lack of campaign signs in a sea of campaigns signs would influence votes. In other words, people would say that if a candidate had no campaign signs he probably did not have much support. And that psychological process would rule out certain candidates. Sad but true. Cause they don't influence my vote (at least I don't THINK they do... you never know what is going on subconsciously) and I can't stand to see that sea of signs.

 

[deadheadskier]

They're annoying

However, they help link names with who the uniformed think has the best commercials.

 

[riverc0il]

Let's look at it another way... if they didn't work, why would cash strapped campaigns spend all that money and go through all that trouble if they didn't work? Political Scientists do lots of research on the psychology of voting. Perhaps it is needing to not be absent in the sign wars that is the issue. Or maybe some people do in fact vote based on the sign popularity contest. Regardless, I can't imagine all that money would be spent if some data did not indicate that they do "work".

Unfortunate as that case may be.

 

[bvibert]

Let's look at it another way... if they didn't work, why would cash strapped campaigns spend all that money and go through all that trouble if they didn't work? Political Scientists do lots of research on the psychology of voting. Perhaps it is needing to not be absent in the sign wars that is the issue. Or maybe some people do in fact vote based on the sign popularity contest. Regardless, I can't imagine all that money would be spent if some data did not indicate that they do "work".

Unfortunate as that case may be.

I'm sure you're right, but I still don't like them. They should be outlawed, IMHO...

 

[ctenidae]

Name recognition is a powerful thing, especially in instances where you don't really care. 3rd alternate Alderman? Who cares? Hey, I recognize that name, I'll vote for him.

Really, it's just a smaller, cheaper version of TV ads. Issues? Who cares? I heard [insert Candidate's name here] last on TV, and he said the other guy was bad, so I'll vote for him.

I blame Nixon.

 

[Greg]

Some of you guys get worked up over the silliest things. First Christmas lights in October, now campaign signs? I must be pretty blind to all this...

 

[bvibert]

Name recognition is a powerful thing, especially in instances where you don't really care. 3rd alternate Alderman? Who cares? Hey, I recognize that name, I'll vote for him.

Really, it's just a smaller, cheaper version of TV ads. Issues? Who cares? I heard [insert Candidate's name here] last on TV, and he said the other guy was bad, so I'll vote for him.

The only thing I hate more than campaign signs is campaign TV ads... It's mostly mud slinging BS...

 

[Terry]

They really piss me off! The more of them I see, the less likely I will be to vote for them.

 

[bvibert]

Some of you guys get worked up over the silliest things. First Christmas lights in October, now campaign signs? I must be pretty blind to all this...

You seriously don't notice the crap load of signs out right now??

 

[MogulQueen]

Did anyone else when they were young go around collecting them then put them all in one persons yard?

I did this in high school. I put them all in a dude's yard that I didn't like. Funny thing is that his dad made him put all the signs back around town. I lived in a VERY big town. Good times.

 

[Marc]

By whom is it being held, and how much clothing is the holder wearing?

These factors hold great sway over its influence, for me.

 

[MogulQueen]

Let's look at it another way... if they didn't work, why would cash strapped campaigns spend all that money and go through all that trouble if they didn't work? Political Scientists do lots of research on the psychology of voting. Perhaps it is needing to not be absent in the sign wars that is the issue. Or maybe some people do in fact vote based on the sign popularity contest. Regardless, I can't imagine all that money would be spent if some data did not indicate that they do "work".

Unfortunate as that case may be.

I do agree with you. As much as I hate them, I do think they influence a certain population. If you were running, you would look like a chump if you did not have one. I think this is especially true if it were for a position other than first selectman or mayor. A lot of people probaby do not follow the other supporting candidates and they would need to depend on name recognition.