The Psychology of Yard Signs

The deeper meaning of a 18x24 piece of cardboard

It’s been over six months since the election but many folks in my neighborhood still have Harris-Walz signs in their yards, the azalea in the photo below proving that I took it over this past weekend, rather than last fall.

The signs for candidates for other offices have long since disappeared. The obvious question is whether the remaining Harris-Walz ones are an expression of mourning for the country’s future that these homeowners once hoped for or something else.

You can’t walk a block without running into other signs expressing views about local issues.

Or making broader statements about values.

But why put up a yard sign in the first place? At election time, it makes sense. Candidates get free advertising and neighbors get to signal their support for their preferred candidate. In one particularly absurd moment in a House hearing on DC statehood several years back (a topic I promise I will return to some day), opponents of statehood argued that DC residents have a voice in the deliberations of Congress because members of Congress from elsewhere see yard signs on their daily commute to the Capitol and somehow factor these into their decisions. Yeah right.

But in fact, there is actually some political science research to show that signs can make a 1 to 2 point difference in elections, enough to swing things in a tight race. That’s because a sign is literally a stake in the ground for your preferred candidate but also because it can prompt persuasive discussion with neighbors. It’s a nice idea and one that I’ve seen played out in some cases. But I also know that yard signs can be just a poke in the eye aimed at a neighbor with an opposing view. In this case, the sign does the talking that people don’t want to engage in and as such, is probably not persuasive.

As for the nonelectoral signs, their value seems to be as an expression of both personal views and group membership, a kind of solidarity among those with similar signs. In that way, they are similar to the flags that some folks put out for their favorite sports teams when championships are on the line. No pics but in the past few days, I’ve walked by houses with flags for the Detroit Pistons, University of Arkansas, University of Michigan, and some school that starts with C and has a dragon as a mascot. Go team!

In full disclosure, my yard currently sports no signs at all. For many years, having a job where I was required to act in a strictly nonpartisan manner made me hesitant to put them up. After I retired in 2022, I broke from habit and put up one in a city council race. But since then, the lawn remains unadorned except for the weeds.

Do you have a sign in your yard? Leave a comment telling me what your sign says and what it means to you. I am eagerly awaiting your thoughts.