---
title: 'Political posters: what are election campaign posters? 1860 to 2014'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/
description: 'Political and election campaign posters, 1860 to 2014: US tickets, Weimar and Fascist parties, referendums and modern races, each side tested alike.'
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg)

Collection

# Political posters: what are election campaign posters? 1860 to 2014

Political and election campaign posters, 1860 to 2014: US tickets, Weimar and Fascist parties, referendums and modern races, each side tested alike.

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Political posters

[!['Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840-640.jpg)'Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840/) [![The Issue - 1900. Liberty. Justice. Humanity. W. J. Bryan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bryan-issue-1900-liberty-justice-humanity-poster-1900-640.jpg)The Issue - 1900. Liberty. Justice. Humanity. W. J. Bryan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-issue-1900-liberty-justice-humanity-poster-1900/) [![Zerschmettert den Weltfeind. Wählt Nationalsozialistisch! (Streiter-Verlag election poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/zerschmettert-den-weltfeind-nsdap-plakat-1928-640.jpg)Zerschmettert den Weltfeind. Wählt Nationalsozialistisch! (Streiter-Verlag election poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/zerschmettert-den-weltfeind-nsdap-plakat-1928/) [![Σοσιαλδημοκρατία: Μερικοί που ζητούν την ψήφο σου σ' εκυβέρνησαν (Social democracy: some who ask for your vote have ruled you)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sosialdimokratia-election-poster-1946.jpg)Σοσιαλδημοκρατία: Μερικοί που ζητούν την ψήφο σου σ' εκυβέρνησαν (Social democracy: some who ask for your vote have ruled you)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sosialdimokratia-election-poster-1946/) [![From 1965 to 1971 the Democrats and the Republicans dropped more than 6 million tons of bombs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/swp-bring-the-troops-home-stop-the-bombing-jenness-pulley-1972.jpg)From 1965 to 1971 the Democrats and the Republicans dropped more than 6 million tons of bombs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/swp-bring-the-troops-home-stop-the-bombing-jenness-pulley-1972/) [![Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/turkey-election-billboards-2014-640.jpg)Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/turkey-election-billboards-2014/)

> **Content note.** A 1928 German National People's Party poster caricatures a dark-faced colonial soldier, and a 1928 Nazi Party poster shows a collapsing building labelled "international high finance". Both are shown as issued; showing an item is not endorsing it.

[What are political posters?](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#what-are-political-posters) [Nineteenth-century American tickets](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#nineteenth-century-american-tickets) [Interwar Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#interwar-europe-parties-competing-for-votes) [Wartime and postwar contests](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#wartime-and-postwar-contests) [Referendums and one-candidate votes](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#referendums-and-one-candidate-votes) [Late twentieth century to 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/political-posters/#late-twentieth-century-to-2014)

## What are political posters?

Political posters are printed sheets, banners and billboards that ask people to vote for a candidate, party or ballot question, or against one. The collection holds them from 1860 to 2014, from free contests and single-party votes alike.

Each is tested the same way: who issued it, what it asks, and which technique carries it. Vintage campaign and election posters are read the same way as current ones; the date and the issuer change, the questions do not.

![Flag banner printed as a 33-star flag with a bust of Lincoln, Philadelphia, 1860](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860.jpg)

## Nineteenth-century American tickets

H. C. Howard of Philadelphia printed the 1860 Republican ticket on a cloth flag, so the national symbol carries the candidates ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). The [1860 election page](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1860/) covers the rival tickets.

![Double placard, Grant and Seymour, 1868](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/god-grant-us-peace-seymour-rads-1868.jpg)

![Republican chart with Grant and Wilson portraits and platform, 1872](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/republican-chart-grant-1872.jpg)

![Bryan and Sewall oval portraits broadside, San Francisco, 1896](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bryan-sewall-unlimited-coinage-broadside-1896.jpg)

![The Real Issue: McKinley Was Right in 1896, poster, 1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mckinley-real-issue-poster-1900.jpg)

![Bryan portrait inside a cracked Liberty Bell, 1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ring-liberty-bell-1900.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

A 1868 New York placard by Brown & Barrett sets "God Grant Us Peace" over Grant against a pun on Seymour's name over a threat of more "Rads" ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

H.H. Lloyd & Co. published a 1872 chart pairing portraits, biographies and the platform under "the nation's choice in war and peace" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

Amos Currier of San Francisco printed a 1896 broadside for the Democratic ticket nominated at Chicago ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

A pro-McKinley lithograph of 1900 contrasts a crowd outside the mills with a figure at the mint ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). The opposing 1900 poster below sets Bryan inside a cracked Liberty Bell.

A. W. Knisely of Akron designed it, linking 4 July 1776 to 4 July 1900 ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). See the [1896](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1896/) and [1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1900/) election pages.

![Two-panel PNF election poster, 1919 Bolscevismo and 1923 Fascismo, 1924](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bolscevismo-fascismo-pnf-illustration-1924.jpg)

## Interwar Europe: parties competing for votes

The National Fascist Party's 1924 poster, reproduced in L'Illustration, sets a ruined house under a red flag against a harvest ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/), [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)). See also [Italian fascist propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/italian-fascist-propaganda-posters/).

**Content note:** Racial caricature of a Black French colonial soldier as a menacing giant, in a 1928 German nationalist election poster. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![DNVP poster with a giant soldier looming over the Rhine, 1928](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dnvp-locarno-waehlt-deutschnational-1928.jpg)

![Nazi poster of a figure smashing a building labelled Internationale Hochfinanz, 1928](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/zerschmettert-den-weltfeind-nsdap-plakat-1928.jpg)

![Text-only NSDAP poster, Arbeit und Brot, Liste 1, 1932](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/arbeit-und-brot-liste-1-plakat-1932.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

The German National People's Party's 1928 Reichstag poster shows a looming soldier under the word "Locarno?" ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)).

The Nazi Party's Streiter-Verlag poster of 1928 tells voters to "smash the world enemy" ([Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/), [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

By 1932 the same party's Reichstag campaign used plain lettering promising "work and bread" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)). More on the Nazi record is on the [Nazi propaganda posters page](https://propagandaarchive.org/nazi-propaganda-posters/).

![Australian Labor Party Senate poster, Win the war, 1940](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/australian-labor-party-senate-ashley-1940.jpg)

## Wartime and postwar contests

The Australian Labor Party's New South Wales Senate poster of 1940 prints a quotation from John Curtin vouching for its candidate ([Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)).

![Uncle Sam pointing beside a portrait of Roosevelt, 1944](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-want-you-fdr-stay-and-finish-the-job-1944.jpg)

![Election poster of a soldier before the Diet, Japan, 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/this-ballot-greater-east-asia-election-poster-1942.jpg)

![Greek Populist Party poster, 1946](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ellines-prosochi-laikon-komma-poster-1946.jpg)

![Unsigned Greek poster headed Social democracy, 1946](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sosialdimokratia-election-poster-1946.jpg)

![Royalist referendum poster, ballot for King George II, 1946](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vasilea-avto-tremoun-referendum-poster-1946.jpg)

![South Korean 1948 general election poster, Independence Gate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/general-election-may-10-poster-south-korea-1948.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

An independent voters' committee reused the recruiting-poster pose in 1944 to ask for a re-election ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

Japan's Home Ministry and the Imperial Rule Assistance Association called the vote of 1942 "the power that builds Greater East Asia" ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)), in an election where government-backed candidates were promoted.

Three Greek sheets of 1946 show a contest fought in fear: the Populist Party's "Greeks, beware" ([Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/)), an unsigned sheet listing "murders" and "anarchy" under "social democracy" ([Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)), and a royalist referendum poster ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

The US Army Military Government's poster for the 10 May 1948 election shows a crowd with ballots marching through a gate ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

## Referendums and one-candidate votes

![Pink poster of Ngo Dinh Diem among villagers, 1955](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vote-for-diem-revolutionary-1955.jpg)

Ngo Dinh Diem's government printed a 1955 referendum poster promising "a society of plenty and fairness" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

![Franco referendum poster, Garantia de la paz, 1966](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/franco-referendum-garantia-de-la-paz-1966.jpg)

The Spanish state's 1966 referendum poster pictures Franco under "Guarantee of peace, guarantee of the future" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

![Communist Party of Belgium poster on a Brussels hoarding, 1968](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/belgian-communist-votez-555-1968.jpg)

## Late twentieth century to 2014

The Communist Party of Belgium's March 1968 poster shows an ordinary couple under "You love it, your country" ([Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)).

![SWP poster on bombs dropped on Vietnam, 1972](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/swp-bring-the-troops-home-stop-the-bombing-jenness-pulley-1972.jpg)

![Banisadr presidential election poster, Qaemshahr, 1980](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/banisadr-election-poster-qaemshahr-1980.jpg)

![Estonian Congress poster of a sower, 1990](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/eesti-kongress-valite-vabaduse-1990.jpg)

![ANC poster, DP + NNP Stole Your Homes, 2001](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/anc-district-six-election-poster-2001.jpg)

![Rival presidential billboards in Istanbul, 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/turkey-election-billboards-2014.jpg)

![Pro-Assad wall painting and portrait poster, Damascus, 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/syria-pro-assad-wall-poster-damascus-2014.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

The Socialist Workers Party campaign committee stated in 1972 that Democrats and Republicans dropped over six million tons of bombs ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). See [anti-war posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/anti-war-posters/).

A local mosque youth association signed this 1980 Iranian poster, which offers "justice" as the reason to vote ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

The Estonian Congress movement's 1990 poster names the date and the word "freedom" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

The ANC in the Western Cape split a poster into an accusation and a credit claim over District Six (c. 2001; [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/), [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)).

Three rival Turkish presidential campaigns appear side by side on election day, 10 August 2014 ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

The pro-government campaign in Damascus, May 2014, covered a wall with the flag colours around the president's portrait ([Cult of personality](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/cult-of-personality/)).

The sheets differ in scale, in who could answer them and in whether the ballot offered a real choice. Those differences are recorded in each entry, and none is treated as proof of another; the technique labels are the same for every issuer.

## Election and campaign posters in the collection

Showing 30 of 30 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/).

- ['Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Name-calling)
- [Campaign flag banner, "For President Abram Lincoln. For Vice President Hannibal Hamlin" (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860/) (United States · 1860 · Transfer)
- [God Grant Us Peace / We Shall See More Rads 'Bottled Up' in November](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/god-grant-us-peace-seymour-rads-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Name-calling)
- [The Republican chart. The nation's choice in war and peace Ulysses S. Grant](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/republican-chart-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Glittering generalities, Transfer)
- [Democratic nominees Bryan and Sewall broadside](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-sewall-unlimited-coinage-broadside-1896/) (United States · 1896 · Transfer)
- [The Issue - 1900. Liberty. Justice. Humanity. W. J. Bryan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-issue-1900-liberty-justice-humanity-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Glittering generalities, Transfer, Fear appeal)
- [Wm. McKinley, Prosperity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-prosperity-lithograph-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Real Issue: McKinley Was Right in 1896](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-real-issue-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Card stacking)
- [Ring Again the Liberty Bell in 1900 (Bryan poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ring-liberty-bell-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [1919 Bolscevismo / 1923 Fascismo: PNF election poster as reproduced in L'Illustration, April 1924](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bolscevismo-fascismo-pnf-illustration-1924/) (Fascist Italy · Apr 5, 1924 · Card stacking, Scapegoating). Content note: Poster images of a ruined house, a grieving woman beside a fallen figure and red-flag marchers, set against a harvest scene.
- [Locarno? Wählt deutschnational! (Locarno? Vote German National!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dnvp-locarno-waehlt-deutschnational-1928/) (Weimar Germany · 1928 · Fear appeal). Content note: Racialised caricature of a dark-faced, bared-teeth colonial soldier looming over the Rhine.
- [Zerschmettert den Weltfeind. Wählt Nationalsozialistisch! (Streiter-Verlag election poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/zerschmettert-den-weltfeind-nsdap-plakat-1928/) (Weimar Republic · 1928 · Scapegoating, Name-calling). Content note: 1928 Nazi Party election poster showing a swastika-marked figure smashing a building labelled 'Internationale Hochfinanz', shown whole.
- [Arbeit und Brot durch den Nationalsozialismus Liste 1](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/arbeit-und-brot-liste-1-plakat-1932/) (Weimar Republic · 1932 · Glittering generalities). Content note: Nazi Party election poster of 1932 reading 'Arbeit und Brot durch den Nationalsozialismus'.
- [Win the war: Australian Labor Party Senate ticket, New South Wales (1940)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australian-labor-party-senate-ashley-1940/) (Australia · 1940 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- ['Daitōa kizuku chikara da, kono ippyō' (This one vote is the power that builds Greater East Asia) election poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-ballot-greater-east-asia-election-poster-1942/) (Empire of Japan · 1942 · Transfer)
- [I Want You F.D.R. Stay and Finish the Job!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-want-you-fdr-stay-and-finish-the-job-1944/) (United States · 1944 · Transfer)
- [Έλληνες προσοχή! Όσοι αγαπούν αληθινά την Ελλάδα ψηφίζουν Λαϊκόν Κόμμα (Greeks, beware! Those who truly love Greece vote Populist Party)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ellines-prosochi-laikon-komma-poster-1946/) (Kingdom of Greece · 1946 · Identity fusion)
- [Σοσιαλδημοκρατία: Μερικοί που ζητούν την ψήφο σου σ' εκυβέρνησαν (Social democracy: some who ask for your vote have ruled you)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sosialdimokratia-election-poster-1946/) (Kingdom of Greece · 1946 · Semantic hijacking, Scapegoating). Content note: Drawn scenes of shootings, bodies, explosions and starving people, as printed.
- [Ψηφοδέλτιον Βασιλεύς Γεώργιος Β΄ / Αυτό τρέμουν... αυτό ψήφισε ΒΑΣΙΛΕΑ (King George II's ballot: this is what they fear, vote the KING)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vasilea-avto-tremoun-referendum-poster-1946/) (Kingdom of Greece · 1946 · Name-calling, Transfer). Content note: Caricature of political opponents as a figure marked 'KK' and a green-faced man with a bloodied dagger.
- [총선거 5월 10일 (General Election, May 10): 총선거로 독립문은 열린다 (The General Election Opens the Independence Gate)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/general-election-may-10-poster-south-korea-1948/) (Korea Under US Military Government · 1948 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bỏ phiếu cho nhà cách mạng Ngô-Đình-Diệm (Vote for the Revolutionary Ngo Dinh Diem)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vote-for-diem-revolutionary-1955/) (South Vietnam · 1955 · Glittering generalities)
- ["Garantía de la paz, garantía del futuro": Spain's national referendum poster, 1966](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/franco-referendum-garantia-de-la-paz-1966/) (Spain · 1966 · Glittering generalities)
- ["Vous l'aimez votre pays": Communist Party of Belgium election poster, Brussels](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/belgian-communist-votez-555-1968/) (Belgium · Mar 18, 1968 · Glittering generalities, Plain folks)
- [From 1965 to 1971 the Democrats and the Republicans dropped more than 6 million tons of bombs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/swp-bring-the-troops-home-stop-the-bombing-jenness-pulley-1972/) (United States · 1972 · Card stacking)
- [Banisadr presidential election poster ("We vote for Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr"), Qaemshahr Islamic Youth Association](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/banisadr-election-poster-qaemshahr-1980/) (Iran · 1980 · Glittering generalities)
- ["Frontul Democrației și Unității Socialiste - cel mai larg organism politic": Romanian wall chart](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-front-of-democracy-and-socialist-unity-1985/) (Romania · 1985 · Semantic hijacking, Glittering generalities)
- [24. veebruaril valite vabaduse: Eesti Kongress (On 24 February choose freedom: Estonian Congress), election poster, 1990](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eesti-kongress-valite-vabaduse-1990/) (Soviet Union · Feb 1990 · Glittering generalities)
- [ANC Western Cape Poster: "DP + NNP Stole Your Homes" (c. 2001)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anc-district-six-election-poster-2001/) (South Africa · 2001 · Name-calling, Scapegoating)
- [Pro-government wall painting and Bashar al-Assad portrait poster, 2014 presidential election campaign (Damascus, May 2014)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/syria-pro-assad-wall-poster-damascus-2014/) (Syria · May 2014 · Cult of personality, Transfer)
- [Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/turkey-election-billboards-2014/) (Turkey · Aug 10, 2014 · Glittering generalities)