Yard Signs Don’t Vote, But They Do Matter

Monica Biddix, Principal and Founder

I hate campaign yard signs. I hate everything about them. I hate the smell of the lacquer when you pull them out of the box and the headache that inevitably follows. I hate it when the pointy end of the stake stabs its way into my hand, finger, shin, arm or whichever body part happens to stand in the way of its destination. I hated the time I had to drive four hours round trip just to pick up yard signs for two weeks in a row. And yes, 1,000 yard signs and stakes will fit into a Honda Civic.

Whether it’s paper signs (staples not included), plastic bags, corrugated cardboard or you name it, the thought of spending campaign funds and assembling yard signs generates a pit in my stomach like an empty room at a fundraiser at the start time. And it isn’t just the money and the assembly, it’s the maintenance. Billy wants one. Sally doesn’t want one until the month before the election. Rhett didn’t get his. Irene’s just got stolen. Phil’s blew away. Some kid down the street spray painted a vulgarity on Patty’s. Jerry needs a big one for his barn. Mallory wants a window sign for her business. The goat ate Jesse’s.

After voter contact, very few aspects of a campaign consume as much time and energy from the entire team as signage aka visibility. And at the end of the day as much as I hate all of the signs blocking up the scenery and breaking my mind, they do matter and should be an integral part of the vast majority of serious political campaigns.

Somewhere along the way, some cool kid coined the phrase, “Yard signs don’t vote”. My guess it originated with a frustrated consultant who was ticked off that campaign funds were being diverted from their pocket to that of a union print shop. You see only graphic designers and print shops make money off of signs, not mail vendors, digital strategists, or media buyers. 

I’m guilty of uttering the phrase myself, but the more years I get under the old campaign belt, the more I appreciate the significance of visibility and why while yard signs do indeed not vote, they do matter.

Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that the lack of yard signs was the reason Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. There were many reasons and more than enough reading material out there if you want to dive down that rabbit hole. I will tell you though that the lack of a strong visibility game from Secretary Clinton’s campaign did not help with morale or voter enthusiasm. As someone who was driving around rural Iowa four days before the 2016 election when you couldn’t sling a cat without hitting a Trump sign, I didn’t need a final Ann Selzer poll to tell me that Hillary was seven points behind in Iowa. The proverbial writing on the wall landed on the signs.

Anyone who has managed a candidate should know that keeping up a candidate’s morale especially toward the end of the campaign is no easy task. I pity the person who is riding around with their candidate two weeks before the election, and all the candidate sees is the name of their opponent every half mile. So, it’s not just about voter enthusiasm, it’s about keeping a calm, cool candidate.

And the truth is visibility is one of the areas where Republicans are leaving Democrats in the dust. We like to laugh at Republicans for buying billboards at major intersections, yet we use mobile billboards when we are trying to promote candidates or troll opponents at events. If billboards are not an effective use of advertising then why does almost every other industry use them to promote their product? When you are running someone for office, the candidate is the product. So, if Johnny is running for Mayor, and he really wants to slap his mug on a billboard, let him, as long as there is money in the budget and he doesn’t bear an uncanny resemblance to Grandpa Munster. 

So, while signs might not be the first expenditure I suggest to a candidate, I do support yard signs, window signs, rally signs, and all the signs to increase a candidate’s name recognition, especially in down ballot races. It’s not going to put you over the finish line if you’re running for President, just ask Tulsi Gabbard who still has at least one billboard dotting the landscape in Iowa. But, for state and local races, it’s all in a name, and that name belongs on a sign.

Monica Biddix
Workhorse Strategies, LLC
Principal and Founder