Survey Says: Conservatives More Attractive

An article published in the Journal of Public Economics has found that “attractiveness of a candidate does correlate with their politics”.  Do you now think you are conservative?

The Washington Post published an article discussing the study.  The study found that politicians whose ideologue is more to the right in Europe, the United States and Australia are more attractive physically than their counterparts on the left

Really, come on when will this end.

The study believes the correlation is correct because “good looking” people, earn more than their counterparts on the left.  The study stated they believe that conservatives do not believe in redistributive policies because they are more often better looking people thus treated better in the world so they do not see the world as an unjust place as much as their counterparts on the left.  I must be extremely handsome since I do not believe in redistributive policies at all.

Part of the study showed people only pictures of politicians from Europe, Australia and the United States and people who were more right of center choose the better looking people and the politicians they chose were more often than not right of center.

Researchers found that “Republican voters care more about appearance than Democratic voters do, but only if the voters don't have much information about the candidates and have to rely largely on appearance — in city-level elections”.

The researcher conversely reviewed what they called “In low-information city elections”,  and found that “a beauty increase of one standard deviation attracts about 20 percent more votes for the average candidate on the right and about 8 percent more votes for the average candidate on the left. In high-information parliamentary elections, the figure is roughly 14 percent for candidates on both the left and right.”

How much more silly can we get in determining why people in mass vote for some people and not the others?

Do they really believe that many people are that shallow?

I believe that most people vote on issues that they believe affect them and how those policies will or could improve their individual life.  I think it is fair to say that most voters are selfish when it comes to what policies thus what candidate or better yet what party they will vote for.  That is not to say all voters but I do believe a large majority do.

The bigger issue is how the media in mass portrays candidates, their party and the policies of the left or right.  Most people do not take the time to think about how the attitude or policies of the left or right will affect them in the long term but rather the short term.

So now do you believe you are right or left of center, or more importantly how do people view you without knowing your political leanings?  Careful how you answer that or better yet ask someone who will honestly tell you how you look, just kidding.

The Live with Renk Show airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon. To let me know your thoughts during the show please call (269) 441-9595