Thursday, November 01, 2012

Are political bumper stickers going extinct?

Here we are five days away from the 2012 election, and I am seeing almost no bumper stickers. I am guessing the number is way less than one percent of cars. Why? I have been asking people, and here are some of the reasons we have come up with. There have been news stories about vandalism to cars and other property. People are afraid of being vandalized. In this economy few of us can afford to go out and buy a new car. We need to take care of the cars we have. Political campaigns have put their advertising dollars elsewhere. Radio, television, internet, phone calls. One person told me that he had to contribute to the Romney campaign before they would send him a bumper sticker. He contributed, but then the one they sent him just said "Mitt." He wanted a Romney-Ryan one. Then he thought of the hassle of taking off the sticker after the campaign, and decided it wasn't worth the effort. Many people expressed deep distrust of both candidates and parties. To put it mildly, neither candidate seems to have engendered much enthusiasm. Many people ate tight-lipped on the subject of politics. They don't want to damage a relationship with a friend or work colleague, who they otherwise enjoy being with. This sentiment was summed up by several people: "my momma told me never to discuss religion or politics!"

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