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.

是什么使选民更喜欢某种类型的政治家？首先，我们认为选民的特质偏好遵循“期望的领导”原则。我们发现，市民想获得理想型政治家更加情绪稳定，性格外向张扬，更深思熟虑，认真的和开放，更诚实，但也有些更加不愉快比普通市民要多 其次，我们认为选民更喜欢具有与基本价值相关的人格特质相似的模范候选人。重要的是，我们表明，特质的一致性部分是由核心意识形态偏好所介导的，从而确保了民主代表制。这项研究的发现对政治和民主代表制的个性化具有影响，因为人格特质可能是选民决定候选人是否会为自己的利益行事并很好地代表他们的重要线索。