Posted Redux: Campaign Signs, Race, and Political Participation in Mississippi, 2008

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2011

Department

Geography and Geology

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Seeing the domestic campaign sing as a cultural landscape element offers the opportunity to examine geographical patterns of political participation and assess the social and cultural processes related to these patters. Examining the geographical patterns of campaign sign postings in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and comparing them to demographic information, electoral results, and to these same measures for the 2004 elections illustrate that political participation was affected along racial lines in the 2008 election Black citizens saw increased participation rates, white citizens saw decreased participation rates, and the entire study area saw a move toward Democratic support. However, part of this move may have been the result of decreased participation among conservative white voters. Campaign signs do appear to have a relationship with other forms of political participation, namely voting, and also appear to be useful proxy data for potential electoral results.

Publication Title

Southeastern Geographer

Volume

51

Issue

3

First Page

473

Last Page

494

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