Opinion: Political signs: Do they affect your voting habits?

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Today is the last day to register to vote in the State of California.

As election day nears, the increase in political ads, phone calls, and signage seems to reach a saturation point.

In neighborhoods around L.A., hand-made and professionally created signs are springing up in front yards and near sidewalks.

The Atlantic asks in a short piece: ‘Do Ads Matter?’

‘Every two years, when American TV sets are taken over by tens or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of political advertising, many people, I suspect, greet this development with tired, disgruntled sighs,’ writes Chris Good. ‘Negativity abounds, and it is served, in many cases, by oversimplicity: Congressional votes on large, complicated bills are cited to prove that candidates support tax increases or federally funded abortions or gigantic deficits. Most people assume, correctly, that things are a [bit] trickier than that.’

He concludes that perhaps some TV ads cause more harm than good.

It seems that the larger the budget, the more numerous the commercials and smear campaigns. Many Americans frown on the phone calls and the televised barbs. And yet, this seems to be a mainstay of the U.S. political process.

Taking a walk or jog in your neighborhood lately can put a slew of signage right in your path. So we’d like to know: Will a political candidate’s outreach, including signs and phone calls, affect the way you vote this year?

Do you pay attention to political signs or have they just become part of the landscape?

-- Lori Kozlowski
twitter.com/lorikozlowski

Photo (top): A sign calling voters to pay attention. Credit: Lori Kozlowski / Los Angeles Times. Photo (bottom): Jerry Brown sign in Los Angeles. Credit: Lori Kozlowski / Los Angeles Times.