Yard Signs: The simple, effective way to start conversations with the rural voters no one else is reaching

RuralOrganizing.org  has spent a lot of time figuring out how to move rural vote margins. We know there are progressive voters in every rural community, many of whom feel alone. This year, building on our 2023 program from Ohio, we are engaged in multiple swing states right now,  building power with rural people to win change for the future.  

So we have been focused on a strategy to engage rural pro-democracy voters that everyone else is ignoring and bring them out of the shadows to generate conversations that build community, a crucial first step. It’s simple, it’s old school, and it’s working: it’s yard signs.

Our estimates are that our yard signs have generated 372,000 conversations with rural voters across five battleground states.

In May, The Associated Press recently reported on a tv ad campaign aimed at rural voters by American Bridge 21st Century, A new Democratic ad campaign targets one of Trump’s most loyal blocs: Rural voters. It was great to see $140 million being spent by American Bridge 21st Century on rural America. But something jumped out at us from that article. It was an excerpt about Susan Pryce, 74, a retired nurse who lives in Derry, Pennsylvania, who is featured in one ad:

“When Roe v. Wade was overturned, I just felt that I had suddenly become a second-class citizen,” she said. “I’m really worried that this is just the tip of the iceberg, that we’re going backwards.”

She said she lives in a rural area that’s very conservative, but noted a neighbor had recently put up a “BYEDON” sign, giving her hope.

A yard sign is what gave her hope. That wasn’t surprising. That’s what we hear from rural progressives who put up our signs. And that’s why we decided to go all-in on yard signs – because we decided to listen to our own base of rural people.

When we ask rural progressives what they need to win over their friends and neighbors, they always gave us the same answer: yard signs. Over the last several months, our team has recruited over 4,000 volunteers in 750 towns across five battleground and Senate states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Montana. 

We made it easy. Signs were free in battleground states and available at our online store for purchase. We developed a system to distribute tens of thousands of yard signs in an engaging and cost-efficient way, utilizing another vital rural resource:the US Postal Service!

Together, this year, our volunteers have already placed 62,000 yard signs. 

Some of our signs said, “We Support Freedom, Choice, Democracy” - an invitation to have a conversation about those shared values, create a permission structure for pro-democracy voters, and build a sense of community and belonging.  Others were directly in support of the Harris-Walz ticket, Tester for Senate, the Montana Abortion rights ballot measure and Sherrod Brown for Senate in Ohio.

What we’ve learned over the years is that every sign we place generates 4-6 relational conversations with a neighbor or friend, a trusted messenger who is extremely influential. The signs have also proven to be extremely cost effective – at $10 per sign that’s less than $2 per conversation. Compare that with traditional paid door knock canvasses that cost over $50 per interaction (with a stranger) – and in rural areas, where people live farther apart from one another, traditional door knocking gets so expensive that most campaigns don’t even bother contacting rural people at all. In 2020, only 36% of white rural voters in battleground states were contacted by the Democratic party. 

And it bears repeating, our estimates are that our yard signs have generated 372,000 conversations with rural voters across five battleground states.

Yard signs is a tactic that reaches rural voters like nothing else – over 80% of our local volunteers are not connected to any organization or party. Yard signs are a vehicle to reach into unreached rural communities and speak to rural voters no one else is talking to through trusted local messengers who have the greatest influence.

Finding these new activists and generating conversations is why RuralOrganizing has been engaging in very basic retail politics, focusing on getting signs into yards across rural communities. We’ve been told by the DC consultant class for years that “yard signs don’t vote.” Okay. But, people who put yard signs on their front lawns or in their windows vote. As do their neighbors who use the sign as an excuse to have a conversation about values and the election. The last major study, almost 10 years ago, showed yard signs increase vote share by 1.7%, crucial in close elections – in an election like this one that’s so close, that difference matters. But we believe the impact of yard signs is even higher in rural areas – and is long overdue to be studied in an updated randomized control trial. The response we’ve gotten, while anecdotal, has been overwhelming. 

Our sign volunteers tell us our signs make them feel less alone – and it’s not just because of the conversations they’re having. Drive through any small town and rural area and you’ll see Stop the Steal flags and Let’s Go Brandon Signs plastered over everything. They’re trying to send a message: that you can’t live here and be a pro-democracy voter. They’re intended to suppress the vote of pro-democracy voters. Our signs change the visual landscape of rural communities and open up possibility. The signs create a visible permission structure to be a pro-democracy voter, to reach out to your neighbor, to start a conversation.

And, while we’ve heard the snide remarks for years about yard signs, there’s something that people who don’t live in rural communities don’t understand: They matter. I’ve been working in rural Democratic politics for over a decade, and I’ve learned one critical lesson: What a community says about a candidate matters more than what a candidate says about a community.

Whenever we got a sign request, we’d send five. We got emails and texts from supporters who put their signs up - and immediately got questions from neighbors who also wanted one. This happened in every state we’ve been in.

From Kettering Ohio:

Char: Whooo hoooo!!! Thank you!!! Several neighbors have already stopped by asking if I had signs or knew where to get them

We live in Kettering that has become more and more left over the years - more and more neighbors are stopping by and feeling more secure putting their signs out. People driving though will stop and say how they've seen the neighborhood change ❤️❤️

From Gaylord Michigan:

We received ours & now are just trying to encourage others to be brave enough to put signs up in their yard.  So much fear, but I will get these signs out.

(4) down, (6) to go. 🎯

From Trempealeau Wisconsin

Erik, who has been delivering signs and attending our NewWORKing trainings, shared this: 

I have an acquaintance (married couple) who do not typically vote. They have never shared any political views with me, but I simply asked them if he was open to having a conversation. They said that they typically lean right but they were open to conversation. This conversation was all over the board. (Border Security, Discrimination, and the clarification of the VP Job duty misconceptions, etc.) but when I presented facts and offered to have more conversations, they were appreciative. We spoke again, and they are now committed to vote for Harris/Walz.

There are so many more! So, yes, yard signs are making a comeback this year, and our battleground program is at the forefront of this renewed trend in American politics.The response has exceeded our expectations, in part, we believe because this kind of direct engagement has often been missing in these communities. And the messenger, in this case, the person putting up the sign, is a known entity in their community. In other words, a known validator.

And, we’re not done. Our colleague, Dani Cook, is doing one last roadtrip through some of the battleground states to deliver the remaining signs and check in with rural progressive activists along the way. Dani has become a TikTok influencer with a very engaged audience. Follow her journey here.

There is, of course,  a very serious reason we’re doing this outreach. The lack of rural visibility is costing Democratic candidates critical votes in small towns and rural communities. When we did focus groups with persuadable rural voters, we heard, "Where are you? I hear you, but you're not present in my everyday life." and "I don't see Democrats in our area."

“Coming out of the shadows” and being visible with yard signs has sparked conversation, generated enthusiasm  and built Democratic unity and community. 

Today, authoritarian forces depend on winning rural counties in key battleground states by overwhelming 70/30 margins, or even higher, to be competitive nationally. But if we actually TRY in rural areas, lose by a little less, and shift rural margins, the authoritarian project collapses and democracy wins. We think that yard signs in rural areas are a key tactic to accomplishing that goal.

For us, it’s all about getting back to basics, reengaging rural progressives, having conversations with neighbors, and doing the work to make an impact.

Follow Dani’s journey here via her TikTok account!