Especially for Local Elections
Hey candidates, what if I told you that some people who do research on political yard signs say that kind of advertising only increases your vote total by two percent? Sure doesn’t sound worth investing in those 18×24 pieces of corrugated plastic, does it? But, there’s a deeper dive into the math and many other factors that might have you calling Good Guys Signs immediately so you can gain a competitive advantage over your opponent.
Let’s Do Some Voting Math
Since 1984, the use of coroplast campaign lawn signs has more than quadrupled. So, that two percent goes along with it. If you’re running for office, and it’s a tight race during the election, that little two percent can go a long way. Let’s say you have a voter population of 10,000…that seemingly miniscule percentage translates into 200 votes. If you can swing those 200 people to elect you, putting out those yard signs could mean you’re now the winning candidate.
How about this? A 1910 contest for Buffalo, New York’s congressional district, Democrat Charles B. Smith snuck by incumbent De Alva S. Alexander by a single vote, 20,685 to 20,684. How’s your two percent right about now? And how could you ever forget the year 2000, when George W. Bush squeezed by Al Gore in Florida by a painstakingly long time to count 537-vote differential. I’m thinking that you’re thinking about buying some political signs.
Getting Your Name Out There
If you happen to be running in a smaller local race, like school board, voters in your area might not know your name, or even who’s running at all. What could happen? The scenario could lead to no vote or just a guess on the ballot. Planting that plastic on top of wire stakes will put your name out there, and voters can see them. It might just lead to them doing a little research on you, liking your platform, and you could conceivably earn their vote.
Low Information Elections
There has been plenty of research done on what’s known as low information elections. This phenomenon is especially prevalent at the local level. These candidates don’t do the high volume of television ads like those running for president do. There is not always a facial recognition when voters go to the polling stations. Your political campaign budget might be low. These factors and more lead to a significant amount of low information voters. This segment of people who fill out ballots on election day are basically uninformed on candidates and their policies. They don’t take the time to do research and learn about those running for office. There are so many people who just don’t study up on politics.
How about these numbers – in a poll of voting aged people, 31% didn’t know that Dick Cheney was Vice-President and 34% couldn’t name the Governor of their own state. Roughly 4 in 5 couldn’t name the Secretary of Defense, and more than half didn’t know that Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House. And that’s on a national level. If you’re running for a local office, that handy little plastic signage might be the only way a voter knows of you. The more you have, the strategy of placement in high traffic areas, and your name displayed prominently could be what has voters elect you.
Cognitive Misers
Low information voters are sometimes referred to as cognitive misers. Where a miser doesn’t spend money at any kind of rapid pace, cognitive misers don’t utilize their thinking skills. They don’t invest the time to gain necessary knowledge for making important decisions. Therefore, if you’re not spending mass amounts of money on TV and radio ads, it’s the custom lawn sign you put out there that are likely the only thing that will register to the people who aren’t informed.
The Bandwagon Effect
The bandwagon effect is a very real psychological thing. People, especially in this day and age, are social creatures. With the advent of social media, voters post who they will, or have voted for. Those on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc will determine to vote for whoever their friends, or who they’re following “tell them to.” They take cues from those they want to associate with or be like. People will do something, like say vote, primarily due to the fact that other people are.
In the past, the bandwagon effect often started with public polling. With polls often coming out multiple times a day as an election neared, results were often water-cooler topics that bent opinion and amplified the bandwagon effect.
People assumed that others have done more studying, are more informed, and have chosen a candidate due to more research than they have. It will trigger low information voters, who will go to the polls and punch the ticket of the candidate they now believe will win the election. There is an innate desire in us to win. Who wants to be branded a loser? By voting for who they think will take office, pride instinctively takes hold of people who felt like they were on the winning team.
You can see the ripple effect of a sign in a lawn and how it correlates to the bandwagon effect.
Polls
Remember back to November of 2016. The career politician was supposed to dust the TV reality host for the presidency. Every poll under the sun had Hillary Clinton just counting down the minutes to be voted into the highest office in the land. As the night went on, something stunning happened. Donald Trump starting winning. All the networks kept calling state after state in his favor. What had seemed unthinkable turned into a reality, despite what all the polls had said. Why point this out? Now, candidates might not trust the numbers they see. The same goes for voters. Enter, the trusty yard sign. It simply works. Period.
If you don’t engage in election signage, you’ll be viewing your opponent’s all over town, and that could be devastating. Remember that tiny two percent we talked about to start this blog? If you think custom yard signs mean nothing, you will be on the outside, watching another candidate end up sitting in office.