The lawn of Nick Hannawa’s suburban Detroit home is lined with political signs supporting candidates for prosecutor, supervisor and local trustee. But Hannawa is not promoting his presidential choice.
He says he doesn’t want the headaches in a polarized election year.
In this area of Oakland County, all of Hannawa’s neighbors in upper-middle-class and affluent neighborhoods have a similar attitude toward a public display on behalf of their favorite presidential candidate. It’s easier, they say, to opt out of this once-typical show of support outside their home.
“Some people love Donald Trump. Some people hate Donald Trump,” said Hannawa, 37. “I voted for Donald Trump. I’m going to vote for Donald Trump again. If I put that sign back in my garden, will that really be the case? is it going to make a difference or is someone going to not like me?”
Oakland County was a political battleground for years, but switched to Democrats during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Republicans have not given up on the area, aiming to win back conservative voters one house at a time.
For years, urban areas voted heavily Democratic and rural areas voted overwhelmingly Republican, said David Dulio, director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Oakland University in Michigan. “And it’s always the suburbs where the campaigns really battle it out.”
For some residents, skipping yard signs is another symptom of fatigue from increased tension in American politics, especially in the White House race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Trump, the former president.
Placing a sign can have an effect on neighborhood dynamics long after the campaign season, says Anand Edward Sokhey, a professor of political science at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-author of “Politics on Display: Yard Signs and the Politicization of Social Spaces’. .”
“They really are a person who says, ‘This is me. This is who I am.’ And other people respond,” he said. “You may not always remember that neighbor’s name, but you remember — for years — that house had a Trump sign, that house had a Harris sign.”
A recent survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts found that about six in 10 Americans say they need to limit the amount of information they consume about government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or feeling tired. In recent weeks, there have been isolated but high-profile cases of intimidation or violence related to campaign endorsements.
Last month, a white man from a Detroit suburb, angry about receiving mailings from Harris, was charged with assault after he was accused of shouting obscenities and racial slurs and then threatening a black postal worker with a knife.
In Ohio, a Republican sheriff posted on social media that people with Harris yard signs should have their addresses written down so immigrants could be sent to them. The post was removed after threats of legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
Many neighbors “have stated that they are afraid to put signs in their front yards,” said Edward Shehab, another Bloomfield Township resident. “People are like, ‘I know who I’m going to vote for, and I don’t have to tell people what we’re going to do.'”
Shehab, 64, has Trump-Vance yard signs outside his home this fall, even though his signs supporting Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence were stolen four years ago.
According to Dulio, there has been a noticeable lack of presidential yard signs in the Detroit area this election year.
“People just don’t want it — even Trump supporters — they just don’t want to hear it from their neighbors,” Dulio added. “They don’t want to take the risk of someone confronting them or tearing down their lawn sign or whatever happens.”
Hannawa said the potential for conflict is why he is instead limiting his signals to local candidates.
“I don’t get involved in presidential politics (signs). There is so much tension around it,” Hannawa said. “I am a lawyer and I have clients on all sides of the political spectrum.”
Danny Watson lives about a mile from Shehab and has no election signs in his yard in Bloomfield Hills. The retired medical professional said he considers himself an independent but believes expressing political preferences is not good for business.
“It makes interactions with patients difficult,” Watson said. “I didn’t want to offend either group of customers I was going to deal with.”
One of four political signs in Jack Robertson’s yard in Madison Heights is a Trump sign. He’s an outlier in the neighborhood a few miles north of Detroit.
“A lot of people say, ‘I’m not putting up a sign. Neighbors down the street are going to get angry. They’re going to do this or that,'” Robertson said. ‘And then? You have the right to do what you want to do. As long as you don’t hurt anyone in the process.’
