Ailing Voters Advance Attractive Congressional Candidates

Ailing voters advance attractive congressional candidates.

Among many benefits of facial attractiveness, there is evidence that more attractive politicians are more likely to be elected. Recent research found this effect to be most pronounced in congressional districts with high disease threat-a result attributed to an adaptive disease avoidance mechanism, whereby the association of low attractiveness with poor health is particularly worrisome to voter...

A Non-Gendered Lens? Media, Voters, and Female Candidates in Contemporary Congressional Elections

Much research in the study of U.S. politics has argued that female candidates for elected office are treated differently—and often worse—than male candidates in the press and by the public. Although these patterns do not doom women to electoral failure, they raise a formidable series of obstacles that often complicate women’s path to elective office, slowing the move toward gender parity in rep...

An Examination of Ideologically Extreme Congressional Primary Candidates

Voters, Candidates, and Campaigns in the New Information Age

New information technologies are slowly changing the conduct of campaigns and elections in the United States. This article provides an overview and synthesis of extant research on the use of this technology by candidates, journalists, and voters and discusses the implications for elections and democratic governance in the United States. Disciplines Communication Comments NOTE: At the time of pu...

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Social Influence

Social science research demonstrates that people are drawn to others perceived as similar. We extend this finding to political candidates by comparing the relative effects of candidate familiarity as well as partisan, issue, gender, and facial similarity on voters’ evaluations of candidates. In Experiment One, during the final week of the 2006 Florida gubernatorial race, a national representati...