HEART BEAT: Polling Sticker Study 2008

By Felicia Mitchell

“Don’t worry about it,” a nice woman says to me.  “It happens to all of us.”

I look over at her and smile, wondering what she means.  Death?  Taxes?  No, I realize, she thinks I’ve misplaced my car.  After all, I am wandering around an enormous parking lot on a Sunday afternoon. 

“Oh!” I exclaim, waving at my maroon vehicle.  “It’s over there.”

I start to tell her what I’m doing, that I’m conducting research for a column and looking for bumper stickers related to the presidential campaign, but her friend looks at me as if the two of them have somewhere to go.

I keep walking, thankful for every little click I hear on my pedometer.  Exercise is as important as research.

I count lots of cars along my route, which says more about the economy than the election, but find few campaign stickers.  This is not to say that people don’t use bumper stickers at all.

“Lord,” one sticker say, “let me be the person my dog thinks I am.” 

“Support the troops,” states another. 

Four years ago, more ambitious, I tallied 1,146 vehicles in a similar endeavor.  Twenty had bumper stickers, eight for Bush and 12 for Kerry.  How will this year compare?  Well, I don’t go to as many parking lots, but I find out something.  Exactly what, I’m not sure.

I end up counting 276 vehicles (not counting my own or another from Quebec).  My approach is not scientific.  It is entirely likely that many of these cars belong to people under 18 who will not be voting.  It’s also possible that the three cars that I spy with Obama bumper stickers belong to people who are too young to vote.

That’s what I find:  three cars out of 296 vehicles with campaign stickers.  All of these politically oriented bumper stickers say Obama.  That means that 1.0135135 (and so on) percent of shoppers here are openly siding with Barack Obama, whereas 0 percent are openly siding with John McCain.

“American by birth,” another bumper sticker says.  “Southern by the Grace of God.”

To be thorough, I also consider some demographics.  Two of the Obama cars are parked near Old Navy.  One is by Best Buy.  Does this say something about voting patterns?  Not really.

It’s hard to say if somebody who parks by one store is only shopping at that store.  It’s possible to park one place and shop somewhere else, or to park once and shop all over. 

I myself always park as far away as possible from any store I need to shop in and stretch my legs, even when I am not counting bumper stickers.  Who’s to say other people aren’t like me?

Voter apathy may or may not be read into the absence of bumper stickers.  Let’s hope.  Maybe more than 50 percent of registered voters will get out there and vote this year. 

“Breathe deeply,” I read, passing another bumper sticker that perhaps gives the best advice of the lot.