Americans perceive Donald Trump as having more 'darker personality traits' than Joe Biden
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The term ' dark triad ' refers to three negative personality traits: Machiavellianism , narcissism, and psychopathy . Some researchers call the four personality traits, including sadism, the ' dark tetrad .' A new study published in the academic journal Journal of Research in Personality investigated what dark personality traits Americans think Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, and Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, have.
Dark tetrad traits in politicians and voter behavior: Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656624001168
Donald Trump viewed as higher in Dark Tetrad traits than Joe Biden, study finds
https://www.psypost.org/donald-trump-viewed-as-higher-in-dark-tetrad-traits-than-joe-biden-study-finds/
Until now, research on personality and voting has focused on the personality of voters who have the right to vote. However, this time, Dr. Monika Purzyk, a psychology researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, conducted a study focusing on 'how voters evaluate the personality of politicians.'
The survey was conducted just days before the 2020 US presidential election, in which Trump and Biden were the presidential candidates, and Pruszyk asked a variety of questions to 456 Americans recruited online. The subjects were aged between 20 and 70, with 42.2% identifying as Democrats, 45.7% as Republicans, and the rest as independents or with no party preference.
The questions assessed the dark tetrad traits of Trump and Biden, including 'This presidential candidate believes it is unwise to let people know his secrets' to measure Machiavellianism and 'This presidential candidate likes to show off' to measure narcissism.
Participants were asked to rate how strongly they felt each of the statements about Trump and Biden applied to them on a seven-point scale ranging from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree.' Socio-demographic information was also collected, including their intention to vote for which candidate, political party affiliation, and educational background.
Analysis of the responses revealed that both Trump and Biden were perceived by American voters to have the Dark Tetrad personality traits, but to different degrees, with Trump rated significantly higher than Biden on narcissism, psychopathy and sadism, while both were perceived to be at the same level on Machiavellianism.
Additionally, perceptions of Trump and Biden's Dark Tetrad were strongly influenced by the party to which the voter belonged. Democrat supporters perceived Trump to be particularly high in traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism, and viewed Biden more favorably. On the other hand, Republican supporters rated Biden higher in the Dark Tetrad compared to Democratic supporters, but still rated Trump higher in narcissism.
Voters' willingness to vote was influenced by what traits they perceived each candidate to possess. In general, narcissism and Machiavellianism were associated with increased support for a candidate, while psychopathy and sadism were associated with decreased support.
Interestingly, there was a tendency to prefer candidates with low dark tetrad personality traits, with people who rated Biden highly on psychopathy and sadism more likely to vote for Trump, while people who rated Trump highly on Machiavellianism more likely to vote for Biden.
Psychology media PsyPost stated, 'These findings suggest that perceptions of dark tetrad personality traits in political candidates play an important role in shaping electoral preferences. But the effects are complex and mediated by partisanship. Of note, the study relied on subjective perceptions of candidates rather than objective measures, which may be influenced by media portrayals and political bias.'
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