Is the "Hate Has No Home Here" Yard Sign Just Milquetoast?

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The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.

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What Does a Yard Sign Convey About a Household?

My family discussed whether to put out a yard sign. One issue was the hateful rhetoric in our area and whether dangerous people would target us because of our political stance. Nevertheless, we decided to anyway.

Then, the discussion got more complicated. Our son, who loves Bernie, saw my choice of a “Hate Has No Home Here” sign as milquetoast. Rather than a positive statement about kindness to all, he saw it as feeble.

Edited to add: My sign got stolen a few elections ago. I guess someone thought it wasn’t feeble.

Ben Shapiro, a person I rarely agree with, wrote a column about yard signs published in our local paper on September 20, 2020. He believes signs are tools for virtue-signaling.

“Lawn signs do not solve problems. But they so make you feel good. Which is what politics are supposed to achieve nowadays in the absence of actual solutions. Perhaps at some point we might ask why politics makes us feel so rotten these days.”

I can answer that question, Ben.

Yard Sign Wars

One of my friends said a delivery person thanked her for the “Hate Has No Home Here” sign in her yard. As a person of color, he feels nervous about the reception he receives at some houses. The sign is a signal that at her home he will be safe.

But apparently, this seemingly non-descript message about inclusion signals to some a different message. An anti-Christian one. David Kyle Johnson discusses the paradox of intolerance, which, if I’m honest, makes my brain hurt.

“Is intolerance of intolerance intolerant? Is hating hate hateful?”

Johnson is clear that people who believe tolerance is anti-Christian won’t change their views. And that people who stand up to hate may end up being hated.

Yard signs might get used as a weapon in neighborhood disputes. Like the woman in my area whose neighbor across the street put up a big Trump sign. Seeing this sign out her front window annoyed her, so she got a Biden sign. What followed was multiple Trump signs on the other side of the street. So, she ordered a life-sized cutout of Joe Biden and plays what she calls ‘hidin’ Biden.’ Joe shows up in different windows of her house to peer at the neighbor. I suspect this feud will be long-standing.

Our choice of a yard sign, which seemed easy originally, became difficult. But it opened some fascinating areas of discussion about what the signs tell others about us. And how they might represent multiple family members on the same side of the spectrum but in different places.

Instead, a seemingly innocuous sign is a complicated label for the people hammering it into their yard. Are they worth it? Do yard signs improve turnout or votes for a candidate?

Yard Signs Work in Elections, a Little Bit

Research supports the ability of yard signs to impact elections. However, yard signs probably will not decide unless an election is close. The articles I read concluded that yard signs increase votes by 1-2%. So, this method has a similar success rate as direct mail.

Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science, ran for the Massachusetts state legislature. At the time, he was a 20-year-old undergraduate student at Harvard. Interested in whether yard signs work, he designed an experimental study to find out. This is nerdy, and I love it.

In his study, volunteers held signs that said “Vote Tomorrow” outside randomly selected precincts. Those precincts had higher turnout than those without signs.

Perhaps he should have spent more time on the campaign because he lost. But, cool study.

Having a person holding a sign increases reaction to the message. If they are moving it around, that is even better. You have seen people on the side of the road waving ads for cell phones and pizzas, right? So I guess we could stand in our yards waving our signs.

In local elections, signs may work better. Because local candidates probably do not have the budget for tools such as billboards and TV ads, yard signs can help with name recognition.

Yard Signs Work for Other Reasons, Too

We walk our dogs every day and find this election countdown brings out some interesting sights. One neighbor had his democratic sign stolen, so he got a giant flag to replace it.

There are next-door neighbors with opposing signs. I wonder how they get along.

A ‘Hate Has No Home Here” sign offered the loveliest experience. As we walked by, a mother was talking with her toddler about the sign. She asked him what it said, and he was able to remember the words. Then she asked what it meant. As we kept walking, I heard her talking to her son about being kind to everyone.

[Inspired to make the world a better place? Get my books now.]

Another neighbor has a yard filled with flowers and garden ornaments. What a treat for the rest of us! One day, I noticed a nonpartisan “I Vote” sign. Our local League of Women Voters provides these signs to improve voter turnout. Since my neighbor was working in her yard as we passed, I told her I loved her sign. The next day, a democratic sign appeared. Perhaps I gave her the encouragement to put it out? I want to think so.

I got an “I Vote” sign, too, without telling my son. He hesitated, then said, “Well, it’s the truth.” Sometimes, a parent can’t win.