The Consistent Attributes of the Ideal Presidential Candidate in an Increasingly Divided Electorate

Bibliographic Data

ID3758023
AuthorsJudith S Trent (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA, corresponding author), Cady Short-Thompson (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA), Paul A Mongeau (0000-0003-3981-1559, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA), Maribeth S Metzler (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA)
Year2017
Volume61
Issue3
Pages278-297
Publication date2017-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764217693278
OpenAlexW2593603032
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited7

Political image is a transactional process between candidates' actions and how voters assess them with their own individual ideas of the ideal presidential candidate. This 28-year longitudinal study of political communication serves to address the following four research questions. First, what attributes do voters find most important or desirable for a candidate to possess-in other words, what makes him or her an ideal presidential candidate? Second, how do these evaluations of ideal characteristics change across time and a different field of candidates? Third, how important are the candidates' demographic variables? Fourth, how do the evaluations of ideal characteristics differ across the age, gender, and political party affiliation of the voters? These questions are posed and answered across 1988 to 2016 presidential campaign cycles in one of the longest research studies in the discipline of political communication

Field (mathematics) · Ideal (ethics) · Political science · Politics · Presidential campaign · Presidential system · Sociology · Transactional leadership · Law · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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