How many do you see?
When I used to work campaigns in Oklahoma, we sometimes couldn't afford polls, so we had this bargain-basement method of determining what your core support was. (Not necessarily overall vote, but how many people really were passionate about your candidate.)
You simply count bumper stickers and yard signs.
Here in Central Florida now, I see a good 5 Bush stickers for every Kerry, and closer to 10 yard signs. This leads me to believe two things:
1) That Bush voters support Bush, and Kerry voters don't like Bush or Kerry but hate Kerry less.
2) As a result of 1, Bush voters are going to show up at the polls, and Kerry voters won't unless they have another reason to. Which they don't, really; there's nothing bitterly-contested going on that matters to anybody except us wonks.
I'd love to know what it's like in other areas.
When I used to work campaigns in Oklahoma, we sometimes couldn't afford polls, so we had this bargain-basement method of determining what your core support was. (Not necessarily overall vote, but how many people really were passionate about your candidate.) You simply count bumper stickers and yard signs. I wish I had saved a link to a reply I saw here a month or so ago... one of our members had a chat with a high-level Democratic operative ( not one of the big names, but upon reflection, I remembered him ) after a lecture he'd given, and his contention was "a $1.00 bumper sticker was worth about $25.00 of major media advertising," because it was seen by so many different people.
FYI, and FWIW, on the Georgia coast, I see Bush vs. Kerry stickers and signs at about a 3 to 1 ratio. I am seeing more Kerry, ahem! "stuff" as the election approaches.
This graphic is in my SUV's rear window. Drives the Kerry Kool-Aid drinkers wild...
( click the pic... )