The Importance of Yard Signs
Oct 3rd, 2008 by nick
As a Barack Obama supporter, I don’t like to criticize his campaign. However, I feel compelled to point out their failure in one area: yard signs. It took me over a month to get an Obama yard sign. I first tried the local campaign office, which has been out of them for weeks (actually, they supposedly received a small shipment a couple of weekends ago, but the signs were gone within hours). I next attempted to order a sign from store.barackobama.com. Part of my order arrived promptly (pins and a t-shirt), but the yard signs and bumper stickers were apparently on back order. Four weeks later, I have no update from the store as to when the yard sign will be available, no one answers when I call the store, and no one returns my messages. This is not a good way to run a campaign store. I finally last week put in an order for an unofficial sign and bumper sticker from cafepress.com. The yard sign arrived this week, and I’m now proudly displaying it on my front lawn, along with signs for state and national representative candidates Jan Hejtmanek and Hal Bidlack.
If I’d waited for the official Obama sign, well, I’d still be waiting.
Obviously not everyone thinks that yard signs are important. Witness the comments to this post on Daily Kos, saying things like, “yard signs don’t vote.” I’d like to think that’s not representative of the Obama campaign’s position, but the evidence of taking over a month to make signs available in Colorado Springs begs otherwise.
I’m afraid the Obama campaign is making a mistake here. No, yard signs don’t vote. But the people who walk and drive by my house every day do. And you can’t underestimate the power of signs and bumper stickers as visible evidence of grass-roots excitement that can be contagious, or at the least make people (perhaps subconsciously) more likely to support Obama. Before I put up my sign, all indications were that everyone in my neighborhood was either for McCain or apathetic. There’s not another Obama sign in sight. That could easily push a fence-sitter to the McCain side. We’re all more peer-pressured than we like to admit, and yard signs give courage to people considering Obama, indicating that they’re not alone in their neighborhoods.
Hi Nick, I share your frustration with the lack of Obama yard signs. I just wanted you to know, though, I went to a democratic candidates forum in Black Forest last night and Keith Ferguson from the Obama campaign showed up with a big stack of them (which could be acquired in return for a $5 donation)! I also purchased a nice oversized one at the Liberal store in the Depot Arts District, for $10. And, get this, there are dozens of them for sale on ebay. I keep buying them because, in my neighborhood, Gleneagle, they get stolen, so I like to have a few spares to hand out to crime victims. However, if those ebay prices keep going up, maybe I’ll sell one there (and donate the proceeds to the campaign, of course!).