Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance
As long as there has been democratic government, skeptics have worried that citizens would base their choices and their votes on superficial considerations. A series of recent studies seems to validate these fears, suggesting that candidates who merely look more capable or attractive perform better...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Wiley Blackwell
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96161 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-8728 |
| _version_ | 1826197506974810112 |
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| author | Lenz, Gabriel Salman Lawson, J. Chappell H. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science Lenz, Gabriel Salman Lawson, J. Chappell H. |
| author_sort | Lenz, Gabriel Salman |
| collection | MIT |
| description | As long as there has been democratic government, skeptics have worried that citizens would base their choices and their votes on superficial considerations. A series of recent studies seems to validate these fears, suggesting that candidates who merely look more capable or attractive perform better in elections. In this article, we examine the underlying process behind the appearance effect. Specifically, we test whether the effect of appearance is more pronounced among those who know little about politics but are exposed to visual images of candidates. To do so, we combine appearance-based assessments of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates with individual-level survey data measuring vote intent, political knowledge, and television exposure. Confirming long-standing concerns about image and television, we find that appealing-looking politicians benefit disproportionately from television exposure, primarily among less knowledgeable individuals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:48:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/96161 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:48:44Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Wiley Blackwell |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/961612022-09-30T23:11:51Z Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance Lenz, Gabriel Salman Lawson, J. Chappell H. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science Lawson, J. Chappell H. Lenz, Gabriel Salman As long as there has been democratic government, skeptics have worried that citizens would base their choices and their votes on superficial considerations. A series of recent studies seems to validate these fears, suggesting that candidates who merely look more capable or attractive perform better in elections. In this article, we examine the underlying process behind the appearance effect. Specifically, we test whether the effect of appearance is more pronounced among those who know little about politics but are exposed to visual images of candidates. To do so, we combine appearance-based assessments of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates with individual-level survey data measuring vote intent, political knowledge, and television exposure. Confirming long-standing concerns about image and television, we find that appealing-looking politicians benefit disproportionately from television exposure, primarily among less knowledgeable individuals. 2015-03-24T19:57:02Z 2015-03-24T19:57:02Z 2011-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 00925853 1540-5907 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96161 Lenz, Gabriel S., and Chappell Lawson. “Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance.” American Journal of Political Science 55, no. 3 (April 4, 2011): 574–589. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-8728 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00511.x American Journal of Political Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Wiley Blackwell MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Lenz, Gabriel Salman Lawson, J. Chappell H. Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title | Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title_full | Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title_fullStr | Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title_short | Looking the Part: Television Leads Less Informed Citizens to Vote Based on Candidates’ Appearance |
| title_sort | looking the part television leads less informed citizens to vote based on candidates appearance |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96161 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-8728 |
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