Desired personality traits in politicians: similar to me but more of a leader
- Autor(en)
- Julian Aichholzer, Johanna Willmann
- Abstrakt
What makes voters prefer a certain type of politician? First, we argue that voters’ trait preferences follow a “desired leadership” principle. We show that citizens want the ideal-type politician to be more emotionally stable, extravert-assertive, more deliberate-conscientious and open, more honest, but also somewhat more disagreeable than the average citizen. Second, we argue that voters prefer a model candidate with similar basic value-related personality traits. Importantly, we show that trait congruence is partly mediated by core ideological preferences and thus ensures democratic representation. The study’s findings have implications for personalization of politics and democratic representation, because personality traits can be vital cues for voters deciding whether candidates will act in their interest and represent them well.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Staatswissenschaft
- Externe Organisation(en)
- Universität Wien
- Journal
- Journal of Research in Personality
- Band
- 88
- ISSN
- 0092-6566
- Publikationsdatum
- 2020
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 506012 Politische Systeme, 501004 Differentielle Psychologie
- Schlagwörter
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/desired-personality-traits-in-politicians-similar-to-me-but-more-of-a-leader(38b8e07d-1053-4ebc-992b-c981df31e161).html