How Do People Picture the Ideal Politician? Ideological Correlates of Preferred Leader Traits in Seven Countries

In times of more “personalized” political competition, scholarly attention has shifted to the question, what makes citizens prefer a certain type of politician and leadership style? Yet, a comprehensive assessment of how people picture the ideal political leader is largely missing. This study investigates how preferred personality traits in politicians vary depending on citizens’ ideological leanings, using population (quota) surveys conducted in seven European countries (DE, AT, IT, FR, HU, CZ, and PL). Building on previous research (e.g., Roets & Van Hiel, 2009; Laustsen, 2017), the present study investigates citizens’ preferred personality traits in a specimen or “ideal” politician. To do so, trait adjectives were measured using a 12-bipolar-item scale aligned with the “Big Five” taxonomy. First, I examine the dimensionality of the trait ratings: how can ideal-leader ratings be summarized or fit into the Big Five model? Second, the “ideological affinity” principle suggests that citizens endorse a trait profile that matches their core ideological motivations (goals). Specifically, I test whether a person’s social dominance orientation (SDO) might explain greater preference for less deliberate, less communion-oriented and extravert-assertive (i.e., dominant) politicians. In turn, right-wing authoritarian (RWA) attitudes might explain greater preference for conformity traits (low openness and high conscientiousness). Third, I investigate the invariance of these correlational patterns across political contexts (i.e., Western and Eastern Europe). The study’s findings will contribute to the literature on cognitive-motivational models of ideology, democratic representation (voter-politician congruence), and leader-follower relationships more generally.