Study: Your campaign yard sign accomplishes nothing

Looking for a way to effectively support your favorite candidate? Placing campaign signs in your yard usually isn't the way to go.

A study conducted by a team of researchers from Columbia University and several other schools around the country found that lawn signs increased a candidate's vote share by less than two percent and had no significant effect on voter turnout. While that might be enough to influence a very close race, for most elections the study concluded that campaign funds would be better spent elsewhere. In the 2014 congressional elections, for instance, most races were won with at least a 10-point margin of victory.

"Millions of dollars are spent each election cycle on political lawn signs," said Brandon Lenoir, a professor at High Point University in North Carolina who worked on the study. "We wanted to see if the signs are worth the paper they are printed on. Turns out, the conventional belief that lawn signs win elections isn't supported."

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