I’ve always wondered whether you can make much of the number of yard signs and bumper stickers you see during a presidential (or any) campaign. They do tend to show enthusiasm. From reports (e.g. here and here) I’ve read on several blogs, it seems Romney signs are abundant in swing states.
Today, I received two additional swing state reports, one from a friend in my native Cincinnati, Ohio saying that he was seeing Obama signs, but “nothing like” four years ago, “Much fewer and far between.” And he has seen more Romney signs. On Facebook, a friend in Denver posted that “Walking near Cheeseman Park I just saw six separate houses on one block with Romney/Ryan signs. Color me astonished.” As I understand it, that’s not a very Republican area of Colorado’s largest (and most Democratic) city.
Maybe we’d see more signs if more Republicans were willing to put up with trouble of having their signs stolen or their cars keyed. The Twitchy Staff report how some liberals revel in such juvenile antics, with conservatives “their Romney/Ryan bumper stickers and yard signs are being stolen and vandalized”
These thieves and vandals aren’t just skulking away into the night. Many are taking to Twitter to brag about swiping and defacing signs, including one guy who used a Romney sign like Occupiers use cop cars.
Read the tweets in the post linked above and wonder why those folks harbor so much animus against their political opponents.
FWIW: been seeing a lot fewer Obama signs in my very “blue” neighborhood. Drove today from LA to Anaheim and didn’t see a single Obama bumper sticker, but did see a Romney/Ryan one. . . .
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds includes reports from readers who’ve been noticing the same things my friends have. A man from Hillard, Ohio, a “suburb on the western side of the Columbus Ohio outerbelt” wrote that he and his wife. . .
. . . drove around for about three hours on Saturday doing some garage sale shopping and saw more Mitt Romney signs than I ever expected to see. Romney signs were present over Obama signs by a factor of 10 to 1.
I have lived in this area and around Ohio State Campus for twelve years. Hilliard is more conservative than central Columbus, but I have NEVER seen this many pro-republican signs. In fact, I think I saw more Romney signs on Saturday than I ever saw of McCain/Palin signs in all of 2008.
Read the whole thing.
I live north of Dayton OH and I am seeing many Romney signs, only 2 Obama signs, and 3 Johnson signs so far within a 3 mile radius of home.
Seeing very few bumper stickers here in the SF Bay area (South Bay). I see an occasional Obama sticker but haven’t seen any Romney stickers yet. I did see a Romney yard sign in downtown San Jose about a month ago. Nothing like 2008. I’ll have to check the lady’s house a couple of blocks away on a corner. In 2008 she had the place positively plastered with Obama stuff. I live in a very blue area and most of my neighbors are Asian and do not tend to wear their politics on their cars.
I just drove through parts of Maryland, Virginia, W Virgina, Pennsylvania and Ohio and the ratio is 3 to 1 for Romney on bumperstickers. Some farms had huge Romney signs and I never saw an Obama sign anywhere.
crosspatch, you’re in the South Bay? Join our readers next Sunday for a brunch in the Bay Area?
Unfortunately Columbus is still a huge bastion of Obama-supporters, judging by the yard signs I see.
On the bright side, my Blue Dog Democrat dad is voting for Romney. The 47% line really hit home (and technically he’s in the 47% being on SSI)
..talking about silly antics…In 2008 a neighbor caught some young men marking out my McCain bumper sticker with purple marker and ripping up my McCain sign. They had a parking sticker on their car from the local college which is 2 blocks away from where we live. We are seeing more Romney signs/stickers but we are in a red state so not surprising.
Here in presumably Obama-safe New Jersey, there’s a marked-absence of ANY yard-signs or bumper-stickers for either Presidential candidate. And the GOP Senatorial-candidate challenging the incumbent Robt. Menendez has such a low profile that I still don’t remember his name….it’s something-Greek-or-another. If it were not for the saturation Obama vs. Romney slime’ing-ads oozing across the Delaware River via TV and cable you would not get the impression that a major election campaign-cycle was underway.
At-times you have to ask if THIS is the best way to select leaders of a major economy, maybe the managed-transitions within the PRC in China has some merit.
Such a lackluster pair of candidates to have a false-choice of….
Here is the south part of Miami, FL I have seen no Obama lawn signs and numerous Romney ones. As far as bumper stickers go the Romney ones outnumber the Obama ones 3 to 1.
Hurray!
It’s very different from 4 years ago, when multiple Obama bumper stickers/yard signs were plastered everywhere (at least where I lived at the time, in Maryland). I’m now in northern NJ. Other than a rare Obama 2012 bumper sticker, and one prominent Romney/Ryan sign down the street in some brave soul’s big picture window facing the busy street, nobody is displaying for either candidate. I suspect many Romney/Ryan voters like me are avoiding advertising that fact, to prevent malicious property damage and total strangers yelling “You’re a racist!” at them. (As it is I get enough grief from my family about being a conservative.) Also I find it amusing that the majority of Obama 2008 bumper stickers have vanished from people’s cars; this is in sharp contrast to the fading Gore 2000 and Kerry 2004 bumper stickers that die-hard libs proudly drove around with for years after those contests. I’m a firm believer that the paucity of Obama stickers this time around is just one indication Romney will win in a landslide.
Ted B. – I’m in northern NJ and there aren’t even any TV ads!
It is almost like election? what election?
What’s a bumper siticker? Seriously, I have only seem ONE Obama 2012 sticker and none for Romney. Although I have seen a few faulting Obama for the mess (not really pro Romney, just anti-Obama)
I saw a bumper sticker the other day. “I’m voting for the Mormon not the Moron!” It was on a car in the suburbs of blue, blue Seattle. I lol’d. Even in Seattle itself, there are a lot less bumperstickers and yard signs for Obama out than in 2008. I hope this is a harbinger of things to come.
Took a road trip from Scottsdale, AZ to Sedona this weekend. Drove through Yarnell and Prescott before stopping in Sedona for the night. On the way back we drove through Strawberry, Pine and Payson. All of the places I list attract a high percentage of liberals and I counted only three Obama bumper stickers in two days and 400 miles of driving! And we saw MANY Romney Ryan stickers and yard signs. And the funniest part? We headed up to Yarnell using the main route to Las Vegas from Phoenix. On a bluff in a very visible location, someone has erected an OBAMA SUCKS sign for all to see. Go Romney Ryan!
I live about an hour outside of Philly, heavy dem country. The political landscape is a lot different than it was in 2008. Spotted equal number of Obama and Romney stickers but very few of either. No yard signs whatsoever for either candidate. There is an area,however, with a ton of anti-Obama yard signs. In 2008 there was a lot of bell ringing. Only one pro-Obama rep thus far and she was run off and I live in a racially mixed neighborhood.
I live in NH-and would say Romney signs outnumber the Obama ones about 10 to 1. In 2008 there were many more Obama signs.
I have seen several giant Romney signs, but so far haven’t seen a single Obama one.
Although I do not live in the southern portion of the state which generally seems to lean more liberal (probably from the Mass people who move to NH to escape the taxation in Mass-but still vote in the same problems the fled).
NH is still a swing state, but at least where I live the Obama support from 2008 has cooled significantly.
runningrn:
I live in Vancouver, just across the river from Leningrad on the Willamette, and I am STUNNED by the amount of Obama TV ads I’m seeing. It doesn’t get much bluer than the Portland metro area, so why is he spending all that money HERE, of all places? I suspect their internal polling is scaring them. I don’t believe all the media spin about polls….it looks like what we used to call “whistling past the graveyard” to me.
Live in and spend a lot of time traveling in the Atlanta area. Four years ago it was very depressing with Obama bumper stickers on a great many cars. This time, I have noticed a significant reduction in Obama bumper signs. I believe it is a big drop in enthusiasm among both white and black voters who 4 years ago were caught up in the “historic event.”
I live in a very diverse neighborhood and can not put signs on cars or lawn. I don’t want the cars keyed nor a rock through a window. But, I will force ALL family members to vote or else.
It’s Bush’s fault.
I would not expect to see Obama signs in Mexifornia. The election is a mere formality in that state, so what’s the point of campaigning?
Yeah, Cheeseman Park in Denver has a reputation as a random hook up spot for men. Denver tends to be very, very liberal just on it’s own and that part of town isn’t known for it’s friendliness to conservatives. I live in the not-nice part of Aurora and I’ve seen more Romney signs and bumper stickers around town than I ever thought I would. It makes me hopeful.
Butler County, Ohio (Hamilton area) here; haven’t seen any Obama signs yet, with a fair number of Romney/Ryan in evidence. A lot of them are right next to Josh Mandel signs.
From what I’ve read Mandel is a good man.
On the way to work this morning I saw a new sign; didn’t have time to memorize it given the traffic, but it was along the lines of “Free Our Country – fire Obama.” Gotta love it.
Visited my Mom in Upper Arlington (Columbus), OH in late August. Saw only one Obama sign, but several Romney signs. My cousin, also in Columbus, reprted that his block is full of Romney signs this year, whereas four years ago it was all Obama.
Also, for what it’s worth — I live in liberal Fairfield County, Connecticut, and there are practically no Obama signs around now compared to four years ago.