It's not always so simple to interpret that just because you see someone powering down.
I'm not currently a witness but for the most part I always have a power down active. That does not mean I actually take the Steem out and sell it. Sometimes I end up powering it back up, or I am simultaneously powering up more than I am powering down (for example, this week I powered up around 200K STEEM, but I still have power down running as usual).
Of course, but when you have a couple of the most vocal witnesses starting FULL powerdowns within the last week while at the same time screaming for everyone to vote for them, it sends a pretty mixed message. I'm not talking about ones that have always been powering down. I'm talking about ones that just started powering down. There are a few asking others to vote for them while reducing the power of their own vote.
I agree the optics and messaging would be better if not powering down. If I were a witness I might consider it for that reason alone, and in fact I still might anyway.