PHOENIX — It's easy to tell when it's election season. It seems every corner, street and neighborhood gets plastered with signs supporting one candidate or the other.
Campaigns can spend thousands of dollars outfitting a city in signs. However, studies show they are not that effective. This study, published in the journal Electoral Studies, shows campaign signs usually impact a race by around 1.7 percent.
Chad Campbell, former state lawmaker and current vice president of 360 Strategies, said that most research shows the impact of signs to be somewhere between 1 and 2 percent of the vote. That's not much.
So why all of the signs?
Well, Campbell said they are to try to motivate the base and are something tangible to make supporters believe something is being done. It is more like a team flag you may put in your yard. It shows you're a fan, but the odds of you convincing someone to cheer for your team based off a flag in your yard is unlikely.
Campbell said yard signs can be more effective than the big signs you see on the corner and can make a bigger difference on smaller races.