We took a trip this weekend, driving 180 miles each way on I-5 through Oregon and Washington State. We kept our eyes peeled for bumper stickers relating to the upcoming election but counted only three for Trump and an amazing zero for Biden.
I’ve never seen anything like this before in the US. (In Europe bumper stickers don’t seem to exist at all.) Just four years ago you could see Clinton and Trump plastered on cars everywhere.
Is this your experience too?
And what does it mean? This election is supposed to be attracting more interest than any in decades; why is it practically stickerless? Is it because there are fewer non-virtual events and less door-to-door canvassing where bumper stickers can be handed out?
15 comments:
There's no bumper sticker that expresses the sentiment "I hate X, so I'm voting for Y regardless of the fact that Y is pretty disappointing."
I think you are right. I see very few bumper stickers. But I see lots of yard signs. Most in the city here are pro-Biden, but most in the surrounding county are pro-Trump. But almost no bumper stickers.
There are no posters or stickers to be seen in my neighborhood, and the sense I have is that there is a vague sense of fear of offending neighbors or passersby. Friends out of necessary caution are being apolitical with all but friends.
Same story here. I don't recall seeing any bumper stickers and surprisingly few yard signs. I'm not surprised about the bumper stickers because people treat their cars differently than they used to treat them back in the day. Also, a lot of cars are leased instead of owned. In fact, I don't see all that many back window stickers for colleges and universities.
fear of vandalism
Same in Central North Carolina just outside of Raleigh. Mixed demographics means your going to risk irritating at least some of your neighbors. Have seen a few bumper stickers, mostly on pickups and leaning Trump/Pence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/opinion/trump-coronavirus-climate-change.html
October 26, 2020
Trump Tells Coronavirus, ‘I Surrender’
The president plays the climate-denial playbook on a pandemic.
By Paul Krugman
As we head into the final stretch of the election, Covid-19 is on a roll.
Coronavirus cases keep hitting records — among other things, five aides to Vice President Mike Pence have tested positive. Hospitalizations, which lag behind cases, are soaring. And deaths, which lag even further behind, are starting to rise, too. Put it this way: Just between now and Election Day, we’re likely to lose almost twice as many Americans to Covid-19 as died on 9/11.
So how is the Trump administration responding? Actually doing anything about the pandemic is apparently off the table. What we’re getting instead is a multilevel public relations strategy: We’re doing a great job. Anyway, there’s nothing anyone can do. And besides, doctors are faking the numbers so they can make more money.
These are, of course, inconsistent stories, and the smearing of health care workers who put their lives on the line to save others is just vile. But none of this should surprise us.
This is, after all, Donald Trump. Also, we’ve seen this combination of denial, declared helplessness and conspiracy theorizing before: Trump and company are following the same strategy on Covid-19 that the right has long followed on climate change.
By now, almost everyone is familiar with the way Trump keeps moving the goal posts to claim success no matter how bad things get. Back in February he predicted zero cases “within a couple of days.” In the spring he said that it would go away when the weather got warmer. Lately he’s been claiming triumph because the coronavirus hasn’t killed 2.2 million people.
The administration was slower to admit that it was abjectly surrendering to Covid-19. But back in August Dr. Scott Atlas, a believer in “herd immunity” — basically letting the virus rip through most of the community — joined the White House coronavirus task force.
Atlas is a radiologist with no known expertise in infectious disease, and actual epidemiologists like Dr. Anthony Fauci are horrified by his ideas. But Atlas, not Fauci, appears to be calling the shots these days.
And on Sunday Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, made it more or less official, saying that “we are not going to control the pandemic” because it is a “contagious virus.”
This came after a rally in which Trump — who considers himself a victim because the media keep talking about “Covid, Covid, Covid” — claimed that coronavirus fatalities are being exaggerated because “doctors get more money and hospitals get more money” if they say that Covid-19 was the cause of death.
All of these excuses sound very familiar to anyone who has followed the climate debate over the years….
https://twitter.com/Birdyword/status/1320948488478154752
Mike Bird @Birdyword
Imperial College London's Covid-19 prevalence study is relatively bad news:
Antibody response present in 6% of the English adult population from June 20-July 13
Fell to 4.8% by July 31-Aug 13
Fell to 4.4% by Sept 15-28
https://www.wsj.com/articles/study-shows-covid-19-antibodies-waning-over-time-suggesting-immunity-may-wear-off-11603757012
Study Shows Covid-19 Antibodies Waning Over Time, Suggesting Immunity May Wear Off
A large English study showed the number of people with Covid-19 antibodies declined significantly over the summer, suggesting that getting the virus may not confer long-lasting immunity from future...
12:40 AM · Oct 27, 2020
2016 redux; neither candidate leading away from corporate capture--dealing with "the people's" priorities...neither willing to discuss actual issues, post 2021 Jan, end of foreclosure-eviction mandate; housing, food, water, healthCARE insecurities for the 30-50% who can't afford $400.00 catastrophe...and in rush to condemn trump-scapegoat, leaving both political parties "cleansed"...
October 26, 2020
Coronavirus
US
Cases ( 8,962,783)
Deaths ( 231,045)
India
Cases ( 7,945,888)
Deaths ( 119,535)
France
Cases ( 1,165,278)
Deaths ( 35,018)
UK
Cases ( 894,690)
Deaths ( 44,998)
Mexico
Cases ( 891,160)
Deaths ( 88,924)
Germany
Cases ( 450,258)
Deaths ( 10,182)
Canada
Cases ( 220,213)
Deaths ( 9,973)
China
Cases ( 85,810)
Deaths ( 4,634)
October 26, 2020
Coronavirus (Deaths per million)
US ( 697)
Mexico ( 687)
UK ( 662)
France ( 536)
Canada ( 263)
Germany ( 121)
India ( 86)
China ( 3)
Notice the ratios of deaths to coronavirus cases are 10.0%, 5.0% and 3.0% for Mexico, the United Kingdom and France respectively. These ratios are high, but have been significantly higher, while falling recently as new cases are recorded.
October 27, 2020
Coronavirus
US
Cases ( 9,011,795)
Deaths ( 231,758)
Serious, Critical Cases ( 16,624)
people are afraid of standing out and being subject to road rage, so no bumper stickers. I see less yard signs for the same reason I suspect.
There was a lone sign put up on a lawn in my neighborhood a couple of days ago. The sign was destroyed by the next day. The sign was for Trump. Also, the New York Times tells us today that store owners in New York City are boarding up windows for safety-sake.
How frightening.
Correction, I looked at the photographs before reading the article. The article is national in scope, not about New York City specifically:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/business/retailers-election-protests.html
October 30, 2020
Boarded-Up Windows and Increased Security: Retailers Brace for the Election
Stores are making plans for how to deal with potential civil unrest stemming from Tuesday’s election.
By Michael Corkery and Sapna Maheshwari
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