A Very Serious Political Analysis of Campaign Yard Signs that Include Photos

The conventional wisdom for designing a strong campaign yard sign goes something like this: if you’re lucky, people passing by your signs have maybe 1-2 seconds (and probably less) to look at them. So, since ballots are names only, making the name the most prominent thing people see makes sense.

But based on the number of photos, design choices, and sadly A.I. slop (seriously … putting an A.I. Flint water tower or A.I. Flint arches, both of which I saw on signs this election season, is … not my favorite choice people made), the conventional wisdom might be more unconventional than I think. There’s probably a case to be made that it could help voters recognize a person in public at events or be more likely to talk to them if they’re a familiar face. Or maybe everything is just “personal brand” these days.

I don’t really know the precise moment that candidates putting pictures on their yard signs started, but the frequency seems to have picked up this year. Which got me thinking: does it actually work?

So here’s my attempt at some real detailed data reporting and analysis. I’ll show my work so people can fact check me if I miscategorized anyone. I included primary candidates as well to increase our sample size.

City Council and Mayor – eight with photos, 12 without.

• Candidates with pictures on their yard signs: Debra Coleman, LaShawn Johnson, Paradise Williams, Beverly Biggs, DeWaun Robinson, Wantwaz Davis, Darell Brown, Micaiah Owens.
• Candidates with no pictures on their yard signs: Arthur Woodson, Ladel Lewis, PhD, Leon El-Alamin, Ramie Yelle, Judy Priestley, Joel Arnold, Jeron Dotson, Dakota Starr, Gregory Ahejew, Candace Mushatt, Sheldon Neeley, Roshanda Womack.

Education Boards (Mott Community College and Flint Board of Education) – two with photos, nine without.

• Candidates with pictures on their yard signs: Andrew Watchorn, Joyce Ellis-McNeal, PhD.
• Candidates with no pictures on their yard signs: Quentin Groce, Santino Guerra, Andy Everman, Steven Bentley, Elizabeth Warren, Lynn Hukee, Dominique McGlown, Laura MacIntyre, Terae King Jr.

Flint Statewide Seats (Michigan House and Senate) – two with photos, two without.

• Candidates with pictures on their yard signs: Bill Bain, Michael Clack.
• Candidates with no pictures on their yard signs: John Cherry, Cynthia Neeley, Larry Hutchinson.

That gives us 12 total candidates who used photos on their signs and 23 who did not. With the November 3 unofficial results now available along with last August’s primary results, here are the winning percentages.

• Pictures on signs: 9-5 record/.642 winning percentage
• No pictures on signs: 14-15/.483 winning percentage

There you have it, a very scientific data analysis showing that if you would like to win a local election you should definitely put your picture on a sign.