I'm interested in knowing from Kossacks their impression of how support for Obama and Romney is manifested in their particular region. One thing you'll hear the Romney folks boast of is that they think they're winning the "sign" war. I've seen comments like "if Romney is doing as well in yard signs as in votes, he's sure to win." Of course, if you're in rural Ohio, you would expect to see a lot more Romney signs than Obama signs - the opposite goes for Cleveland. But I've also heard from folks here that Democrats and Obama-voters are "hiding" in this sense in some very Romney-boosting places. I'm worried that this will damper enthusiasm and lead to unnecessary loss of votes, but that's speculation on my part. Does anyone with more experience going to more suburban/exurban/rural areas know more about the reasons/consequences of this?
As for me, I live in a place with perhaps the fewest yards per capita outside of NYC (Chicago), so I cannot judge anything by the yard sign front. But, in terms of bumper stickers, there are of course a lot more Obama/Biden ones than Romney/Ryan ones (of course, this is BO's hometown too). I'm always on the lookout for this stuff whenever I'm out. It's less than four years ago, but that's to be expected. Seeing a Romney sticker is infrequent but not too rare. But those are almost always from folks who don't live in the city (you need a sticker on your front windshield if your car is registered to a city address, so you can infer these things). I've seen a couple of them from what looked like a couple of Republican-businessmen types who live in the suburbs (especially DuPage County - the Westchester of Chicago for you NY folk) but work in the Loop. Also a Wisconsin car with a "John Galt" sticker had a Romney/Ryan logo the other day. And a Michigan car a couple of months ago. But, yeah, not many...
In the Indianapolis suburbs early this summer, though, I saw a car done-up with Obama as the Heath Ledger Joker. And a little decal with a guy pissing on the words "Obama." Unsurprisingly, IN is not in play this year.
I am interested to hear all of your own observations/anecdotes/insights. Feel free to leave them below...
Read More