To some, they are a political pet peeve, a plague of partisan litter upon the landscape every two years.

Homeowners associations hate them. Some towns have even tried to ban them.

But Neil Levesque, the head of the prestigious New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College, has a message for people who hate political yard signs: “Move to Russia.”

Levesque, who’s worked on campaigns in the past, has no time for complainers. “They are democracy and freedom of speech all rolled into one. The more, the better.”

They certainly aren’t new. In fact, they’re one of the few things in American politics older than Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, whose “Feel the Bern” signs are considered a campaign classic by political pros.

(A torn Bernie Sanders yard sign once went viral with a handwritten message: “I took half of your sign because you had one and I didn’t. I’m sure you understand.”)

The ancient Romans had their own version of neighborhood political advertising: campaign messages painted on Pompeii walls. One endorsement urged voters to elect a candidate because “he brings good bread.” That may be the first recorded example of a campaign promising to deliver.

According to a report in Scientific American, the American campaign sign tradition traces back to John Quincy Adams, the original “nepo baby” candidate, and his 1824 presidential run. His slogan? “Be Firm for Adams.” (OK, so it’s not exactly “I Like Ike.”)

Even the sign-haters have a place in this proud tradition. In Takoma Park, Md., Steve Hoffman planted signs reading “Say NO to Yard Signs,” courtesy of the imaginary People Against Placards, Mid-Atlantic Chapter. The protest was so committed that it required its own yard signs.

If these yard signs are so unpopular, why are there so many? Why do campaigns spend millions of dollars to make them every election cycle?

“Yard signs are an effective way for your friends and neighbors to make a recommendation, just like they make a recommendation on a barber or a dentist or a mechanic,” Levesque says. “The fact that they care so much about a candidate that they put up a sign says a lot.”

Political strategist Dave Carney, a veteran of the George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole campaigns, among many others, agrees that yard signs “give your volunteers ownership in the campaign,” but he says they get plastered across the landscape for another reason: candidates’ fragile egos.

“You drive to an event, and your candidate sees your opponent’s yard signs everywhere and you don’t have any, and they freak out.”

In fact, Carney used that reaction when he was helping George H.W. Bush win the 1988 GOP presidential nomination. The day of the New Hampshire primary, the campaign knew where Dole was going to be doing a Today show hit in the morning. So the night before, volunteers put out hundreds of Bush signs lining the way to the interview.

“Dole was so mad when he got to the interview. He was yelling at his guys, ‘Where are my signs?’ He was visibly angry during the interview. It was perfect.”

So do yard signs do anything other than annoy people?

“Absolutely,” Carney said. “If you’re an unknown candidate and you don’t have a lot of money for mail or ads, it can be an inexpensive way to get name ID.”

There is research to back that up. A University of Colorado study found that signs can help with name recognition and turnout, and may give a candidate a small boost. Researchers also found that, even in the heated 2016 election, two-thirds of respondents said they would still interact with a neighbor displaying a sign for the opposing candidate.

So let a thousand “Vote Blue!” signs bloom! Leave your liberal neighbors seeing “Red!” And if you hate politics, there’s even one for you: “Not running for anything. I just wanted a sign.”

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Michael Graham is the managing editor of InsideSources.com.

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