Best looking candidates win? Lookism research says yes.

But those plaudits are more than just skin-deep. A long line of studies makes a very clear link between the perceived physical attractiveness of a candidate and their voting success.

“You underestimate the role of superficial things like facial appearance at your peril,” says Professor Nick Haslam, head of Melbourne University’s physiological sciences school.

“Certain kinds of faces are more electable than others. People who look stereotypically competent tend to win elections.”

Indeed, so deep is this association that you don’t even need to know anything about the candidates to predict their success.

In one recent study, children in Switzerland accurately picked the winner of the French election by picking the face they liked the most.

In another, people were able to pick the winner of US Congressional races after viewing the faces of candidates – for just one second.

Take the first televised US presidential debate in 1960. According to reports from the day, Richard Nixon won over those listening on radio. For TV viewers, the tall, tanned figure of John F. Kennedy was the clear winner over a sweaty Nixon.

Turnbull can take advantage of the genetic luck that his gifted him with large eyes, smooth skin and a symmetrical face – all factors that are scientifically proven to translate into attractiveness, according to Prof Haslam.

 

“He’s got an attractive face, but it’s also a competent sort of face. I would not call it a hyper-masculine sort of face, whereas Tony Abbott’s is more craggy, with a prominent nose – the sort of things that suggest dominance.

“It’s not a Rudd-esqe baby face, it’s a little bit softer, and probably a little bit less threatening for that reason.”

GQ has devoted its glossy front page, usually the province of handsome celebrities and models, to Turnbull twice – and both times he’s

been a bestseller, says Nick Smith, the magazine’sGQ’s editor in chief.

“At our photoshoot, he just came across as presidential,” Smith says.

“He comes across so eloquently. We sense that there is substance behind the style.”

“He is, except he loves wearing that leather jacket on Q&A – which we told him to stop wearing.

“Apart from that he’s very well put together, something that we kind of call casual luxury. He can put together a nice charcoal suit and blue tie, but if you see him striding down outside his luxury mansion with his dog he could be on the French Riviera.”

Scientists are split on the cause behind the link between attractiveness and vote-winning. For years, the theory was it was linked to something called the “halo effect” – the basic nature of the brain to attribute positive characteristics to physically attractive people.

More recently, a group of American researchers have been linking that to a subconscious and evolution-bred trait for individuals to prefer those with outward indicators of health: smooth skin, shiny hair, facial symmetry.

“Our ancestors frequently confronted devastating epidemics that wiped out many of the members of their groups; at such times, having a healthy leader might have been particularly important,” the researchers write.

It’s worth noting that when appearance is a factor in political decision making, the results are significantly exaggerated for female candidates. A survey of 1500 people by Lake Research Partners found that as soon as a female candidate’s appearance was mentioned – either positively or negatively – it had a negative impact on her rating.

For female candidates, “the strongest situation in favourability and vote likelihood is when appearance never comes up”.

To read more, go here. 

A contrarian view.

A Harvard psychologist, Ryan Enos,  disputed these findings back in 2013 after handsome Mitt Romney  lost to Barak Obama. Psychologist Enos agreed with the overall findings re looksism, by writing that

“Good looks matter: there is evidence that good looking people are treated better, earn more money, are more likely to be thought of as intelligent, and many other outcomes most of us would all prefer to have happen to us. ” 

However, Enos cited his own research regarding US Senate races that suggested there is no  evidence that good looks can cause a person to win political office.

Still, the thrust of much of the latest research is something Enos didn’t factor in: namely, that if all other qualities of a candidate are held constant—personality, intelligence, grasp of the issues, and ideological positions taken—looks matter greatly in election outcomes.

 

 

My latest book, PRIVILEGED KILLERS, is a true story about a half-dozen Dark Triad people in my everyday life - narcissists, manipulators, and psychopaths. Three of 'em murdered people, and one came after my wife and me. Print and e-book versions of this (and CLEFT HEART) available at Amazon and elsewhere online. Also at your local bookstore.