November 2 – The foliage may have peaked and fallen across much of Maine, but there is a new, synthetic source of color in the landscape.
Days before the Nov. 5 election, state and local campaigns spent hundreds of thousands of dollars designing, printing and installing yard signs, according to campaign finance records filed with the state ethics commission. It’s a time-honored tradition during campaign season, one that makes street corners and rural highways sparkle like kaleidoscopes.
Dozens of signs line the edge of Preble Street near Back Cove in Portland, as do countless other streets in Maine. But even as joggers and dog walkers strolled the sidewalks and cars whizzed down the street one afternoon this week, the signs didn’t seem to attract much attention.
Billie Roy, 71, a Portland resident for 50 years, says she doesn’t even look at political signals these days.
‘It’s a shame. It’s an eyesore,” Roy said, pointing to the line of mixed messages from a parking lot across the street. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Some campaign experts agree.
In general, campaign signals make little difference when it comes to boosting turnout or convincing undecided voters, says Chris Potholm, professor emeritus at Bowdoin College and author of “How Maine Decides: An Insider’s Guide to How Ballot Measures Are Won and Lost. “
“No one ever changes their mind by seeing a sign,” Potholm said.
A 2015 report found that signals can give campaigns a slight boost, but by no more than a few percentage points.
Compared to other forms of advertising, campaign signs “tend to be focused on serving the people who put them up,” says Scott Minkoff, a political scientist and co-author of “Politics on Display: Yard Signs and the Politicization of Social Spaces.” Minkoff said voters tend to put up yard signs for two main reasons: to motivate others to vote for their candidate, and as a means of personal expression.
“It’s like a public display of politics, which is something we’re not really allowed to do in many areas,” Minkoff said. “Everyone is looking for ways to feel like they have something to say.”
BUT WHY ALL TOGETHER?
Campaign signs often end up clustered in a few locations, Minkoff said. In their book, Minkoff and co-authors Todd Makse and Anand Sokhey reviewed geographic, survey and election data to explore why voters feel compelled to put up signs.
“Signs beget more signs. And we saw this very consistently,” Minkoff said. “Areas with signs tended to produce more signs, and areas without signs were less likely to add some.”
Potholm described a kind of arms race that can happen between campaigns: Even though yard signs may not be effective on their own, supporters — and sometimes campaign staff — often notice when they are missing from the landscape or appear to be outnumbered. that of the opposition.
“You have to have them, even if they don’t yield much,” Potholm said. ‘If you do get rid of them because they don’t actually do anything, people will bother you all the time. “Where are our signs?” “
But Potholm said signs can serve campaigns that go beyond just trying to convert voters. He argued that handing out and placing signs can help energize supporters and keep the momentum going during a lengthy campaign.
Potholm said that while public street signs are generally a poor indicator of public support — in part because campaigns can hire people to post them — yard signs on private property tend to be a slightly better measure.
“If someone puts a sign in their front yard, that’s a guaranteed vote,” he said.
In smaller races, yard signs can be an effective way to get the word out about a new candidate, Potholm said. But they typically have limited results for larger and more established campaigns.
Standing on the edge of Back Cove, 69-year-old Steve McGrath, a lifelong Portland resident, said he almost never looks at campaign signs for state and national elections, but he said they have been helpful in local elections such as the municipal council and the school board.
“Maybe I’m not very familiar with it, and so I could be influenced by a sign that I saw,” McGrath said. “Like, ‘Oh, I recognize that name, I saw the sign.’ “
CUTTING THROUGH THE SOUND
Pat Eltman, a longtime Democratic campaign organizer, said it can be difficult to make any impact with a sign when street corners are covered with it.
“When you drive through South Portland now, all these public roads, it’s crazy,” Eltman said.
But Eltman said she tends to notice (and remember) humorous or otherwise non-traditional yard signs more quickly than classic designs. She saw signs that read “Cats for Harris” and puns about the Harris waltz, “like the dance.”
“Some of them are really funny,” Eltman said.
North of Portland, Senate candidate Kenny Cianchette has been thinking new things with his latest series of yard signs, under the motto “KENNY FOR SENNY.”
His campaign has placed nearly a dozen rhyming signs in Senate District 26, which includes parts of Casco, Raymond, Frye Island, Windham and part of Westbrook, and he said they appear to be paying off.
“We put (the first sign) there … and all of a sudden I started getting calls,” Cianchette said in an interview.
The signs have received a shoutout on social media. And Cianchette said that when he knocked on voters’ doors, some responded, “You’re Kenny to Senny!”
In Portland, hand-painted signs stand alongside their professionally printed cousins in a range of color schemes.
Some are made of plywood and, in the case of school board candidate John Rousseau, are shaped like giant apples.
Whether this translates into a better turnout this year remains to be seen.
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