Navigate to News section

Ads Target Jews Unhappy With Obama

In Pittsburgh, signs read “Obama… Oy Vey”

by
Stephanie Butnick
November 06, 2012
A pro-Romney ad in the heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.(Molly Weiss)
A pro-Romney ad in the heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.(Molly Weiss)

Election season in Pittsburgh, PA, is similar to many cities. The usual bumper stickers, lawn signs, and newspaper endorsements—and, if you happen to be on the corner of Forward and Murray Aves in the Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, large signs urging Jews to vote Romney.

Joshua Wander, a local resident and coordinator for the Pittsburgh American Majority Action chapter, and the designer of the ads, says they’ve gotten an “amazing response”—both positive and negative. He reports acts of vandalism to the signs, which were funded by conservative organizations like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Heritage Foundation.

The same groups are also responsible for the lawn signs affixed to the front yards of some Squirrel Hill homes. Wander says they’ve distributed 500 signs to local residents.

One Pittsburgh couple, divided along party lines, admits that their lawn sign—”Support Israel. Fire Obama”—has become a source of intra-family squabbles. “How many signs has mom tossed that need to be replaced? About four.”

Though polls close this evening, those signs aren’t going anywhere, at least not right away—the lease for the ad space isn’t up until next week.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.