According to Aarts, you see fewer posters hanging behind windows because the number of floating voters is increasing. “Parties are struggling with a decline in the number of members and people are becoming less and less convincing, they sometimes only decide at a late moment which party they will vote for,” says the political scientist. “So if they only decide what they are going to vote on, they will certainly not hang a poster behind the window.”
In September, the D66 party office was attacked during riots in The Hague. The building was severely damaged. This seems to justify the question of whether fear plays a role in whether or not to hang election posters behind the window. Kees Aarts certainly notes polarization in the political climate, but would like to put this into perspective.
“Fear can be a cause of not hanging up a poster, tension does increase between the parties, but in fact that polarization was also there in the 1970s. And then many people hung up a poster. At that time, people were often sure of the party that should get the vote, they remained loyal to a party for years.”
When asked whether hanging up such an election poster helps, the answer is short: “No.” Aarts emphasizes once again that the posters mainly serve to show what you stand for. “You can hardly win votes with such a poster. If you really want to attract people, you have to go door to door and speak to people. Spots on TV also only have a limited effect, you have to be in the news well, that helps.”
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