New York: Oxford University Press. The combination of these different questions yields a 5-point scale, taking the values 1 for Strong Democrat (25.1%), 2 for Leaning Democrat (respondents that feel weakly attached to the Democratic party or that declared themselves independents but feel closer to that party; 26.9%), 3 for Independent (including those who do not lean in either direction; 11.7%), 4 for leaning Republican (19.2%), and 5 for Strong Republican (17.1%). 9 Articles, This article is part of the Research Topic, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.636745/full#supplementary-material. Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2010, DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572540.001.0001, PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (oxford.universitypressscholarship.com). doi:10.1080/01402382.2019.1599570, Nai, A. 2020-PCJ-12317). Making 17 (4), 297311. , and if you can't find the answer there, please As summarized by Caprara and Vecchione (2017), personality traits represent important elements through which the similarity-attraction principle may operate in politics because they allow voters to organize their impression of politicians, to link politicians perceived personalities to their own, and ultimately to justify their preferences on the assumption that similarity in traits carries similarity in worldview and values. 41 (2), 499525. Because Independents cannot be considered as having a weak ideological identity, we have excluded all respondents that declare themselves Independents (or anything else than D or R) in the initial question above. Respondents were asked to rate the personality of the candidate they were exposed to using the traditional abbreviated personality measures (the TIPI for the Big Five and the Dirty Dozen for the Dark Triad) and were subsequently asked to give an overall assessment of the candidate (thermometer). Randomization checks indicate a successful random distribution of respondents according to their age, party identification, and personality traits (even if some marginal differences exist for some traits). doi:10.1086/343755, Schumacher, G., and Zettler, I. 22 (2), 420. doi:10.1037/a0019265, Jonason, P. K. (2014). Active Compound means a soluble chemical compound that can bind non-covalently to the Collaboration Target or a Target for which such compound is counterscreened, in each case where such compound { * }. J. Manag. Personalizing politics: a congruency model of political preference. All Rights Reserved. Am. doi:10.1126/science.1207808. J. Behav. Polit. Nai, A., and Maier, J. Chirumbolo, A., and Leone, L. (2010). The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States. Soc.
On the one hand, increasing evidence exists that voters with darker personality profiles tend to like darker politics - be it in terms of exposure to more negative and uncivil campaigns (Weinschenk and Panagopoulos, 2014; Nai and Maier, 2020a), or in terms of support for more confrontational and aggressive candidates (e.g., Bakker et al., 2016). Using some of these variables we have also created a simplified binary variable of strength of partisan attachment. In all models the dependent variable is the feeling thermometer for the fictive candidate, and ranges between 0 very cold and 100 very warm feelings towards him. There are good reasons to expect that voters tend to dislike candidates with such dark traits. Rev. Ind. Unpacking evil: claiming the core of the dark triad. Psychol. In a nutshell, psychopathy is the tendency to impulsive thrill-seeking, cold affect, manipulation, and antisocial behaviors (Rauthmann, 2012, p. 487), narcissism is the tendency to harbor grandiose and inflated self-views while devaluing others [ and to] exhibit extreme vanity; attention and admiration seeking; feelings of superiority, authority, and entitlement; exhibitionism and bragging; and manipulation (Rauthmann, 2012, p. 487) and Machiavellianism is the tendency to harbor cynical, misanthropic, cold, pragmatic, and immoral beliefs; detached affect; pursuit of self-beneficial and agentic goals (e.g., power, money); strategic long-term planning; and manipulation tactics (Rauthmann, 2012, p. 487). But it is for the Dark Triad that we see the most impressive effects. How can the environment be protected, and climate change effectively tackled? J. Polit. Separating the shirkers from the workers? doi:10.1086/269505, Wisse, B., and Sleebos, E. (2016). doi:10.1057/s41269-018-0095-z, Jonason, P. K., and Webster, G. D. (2010). *Correspondence: Alessandro Nai, a.nai@uva.nl, Political Psychology: The Role of Personality in Politics, View all
Polit. 10.1525.collabra.162.pr, Iyengar, S., Lelkes, Y., Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., and Westwood, S. J. doi:10.1080/00207590600991104, Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., and Zimbardo, P. G. (2002). Public Opin. 20 (3), 351368. A series of t-tests shows that respondents that were exposed to a vignette for a specific trait (e.g., extraversion) systematically rated the candidate as significantly higher on that trait when compared to the average of the other seven traits: t(1,969) = 13.77, p < 0.001 (extraversion), t(1,969) = 13.56, p < 0.001 (agreeableness), t(1,969) = 5.61, p < 0.001 (conscientiousness), t(1,969) = 11.23, p < 0.001 (emotional stability), t(1,969) = 7.85, p < 0.001 (openness), t(1,969) = 11.48, p < 0.001 (narcissism), t(1,969) = 13.81, p < 0.001 (psychopathy), and t(1,969) = 16.81, p < 0.001 (Machiavellianism). Polit. Table 2 tests for the moderating role of respondents personality (dark core) on the effects of exposure to dark personality vignettes on the thermometer scores. The sample is mostly composed of white/Caucasian respondents (75%), followed by blacks/African-Americans (12%). Acta Politica 54, 667683. Although our research design is innovative (we are not aware of studies in political communication that manipulate the personality traits of candidates in a similar fashion), it also comes with limitations. doi:10.1007/s11109-020-09651-0, Rubenzer, S. J., Faschingbauer, T. R., and Ones, D. S. (2000). With this in mind Figure 3 plots, for each trait, the marginal effect of trait perception on the candidate likeability (feeling thermometer). 16 (2), 192199. Personality, negativity, and political participation. With this in mind, the question is then: to what extent is the effect of candidates personality traits on their likeability a function of the personality of the respondents themselves? doi:10.1177/0963721414531598, Paulhus, D. L., and Williams, K. M. (2002). Am. (2013). Furthermore, M2 suggests that the moderating role of party strength is also a function of respondents dark personality traits. Feeling thermometer by perceived personality trait. If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian. (2018). Rev. (2019). Am. The significant interaction in Model M3 shows that exposure to a dark vignette yields slightly higher thermometer scores for respondents identifying as a (strong) Republican. doi:10.1111/jopy.12613, Keywords: candidate personality, voter personality, dark triad, big five, experiment, Citation: Nai A, Maier J and Vrani J (2021) Personality Goes a Long Way (for Some). doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.016, Campbell, W. K., Goodie, A. S., and Foster, J. D. (2004). doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034, Joly, J., Soroka, S., and Loewen, P. (2019). 10.5964/jspp.v2i1.280, Wilcox, C., Sigelman, L., and Cook, E. (1989). Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Collaboration Program has the meaning set forth in Section 1.6.1. I asked him three short questions, and found him to be extraverted and warm.. Am. Candidates aversive personality traits and negative campaigning in the 2018 American Midterms. Exposure to a dark trait, compared to exposure to a Big Five trait, reduces positive feelings for the candidate up to 26 points. Of course, all experimental components were unique to each specific vignette, and as such worked conceptually as a whole to cue respondents about the profile of the candidate. The illusion of choice in democratic politics: the unconscious impact of motivated political reasoning. What Americans know about politics and why it matters. Elections, Public Opin. Are agreeable candidates more likeable? Adv. Like psychopathy, Machiavellianism also has an aggressive and malicious side (Rauthmann and Kolar, 2013). Second, the relatively complex nature of the vignettes (candidate description, answers to questions, and references to fictive characters) makes it harder to estimate precisely the contribution of each specific element in regards to the effects they caused. 
Polit. 46 (5), 785810. 3 (4), 487496. A clear partisan identification of the candidate (e.g., Republican) would have been more realistic and generalizable, but would have introduced the confounding role of respondents partisanship into our design. 2The list of all fiction characters is as follows: Han Solo (Star Wars) and Michael Scott (The Office) for extraversion; WALL-E (Pixar's WALL-E) and Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump) for agreeableness; Hermione Granger (Harry Potter books and movies) and The Batman (Batman movies) for conscientiousness; Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings book and movies) and Sancho Panza (Don Quixote) for emotional stability; Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons) and Huckleberry Finn (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) for openness; James Bond (James Bond movies and novels) and Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada) for narcissism; Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) and Sarah Connor (The Terminator) for psychopathy; House, M.D (House, M.D) and Frank Underwood (House of Cards) for Machiavellianism. M1 shows a significant interaction term, substantiated with marginal effects in Figure 4. For instance, it would not matter that a respondent is exposed to a narcissist candidate if they do not perceive the candidate as particularly higher on that trait. Indeed, much evidence exists that the perception of candidates' personality traits is a direct function of partisan preferences(e.g., Hyatt et al., 2018; Nai and Maier, 2019; Fiala et al., 2020). Strength of partisanship is thus computed among respondents that think of themselves as either a Republican or a Democrat, and takes the value 0 if this identification is perceived as weak, and 1 if this identification is perceived as strong. Voters unconsciously act as motivated reasoners (Kunda, 1990) and tend to reject information that is inconsistent with their attitudes and previously held beliefs (Druckman, 2012; Taber and Lodge, 2016). 