Negativity in Impressions of Presidential Candidates Revisited: The 1992 Election

This research tests the hypothesis that the negativity effect characterized impressions of Bill Clinton and George Bush in the 1992 presidential election. Both aggregate-level and idiographic-level analyses revealed negativity: Personality weaknesses were more important than personality strengths in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 1996-03, Vol.22 (3), p.288-295
Main Author: Klein, Jill Gabrielle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bush, George
Candidates
Clinton, Bill
Impressions
Negativity effect
Perceptions
Personality
Presidential elections
Public opinion
USA
Voter behavior
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Summary:This research tests the hypothesis that the negativity effect characterized impressions of Bill Clinton and George Bush in the 1992 presidential election. Both aggregate-level and idiographic-level analyses revealed negativity: Personality weaknesses were more important than personality strengths in the American public's evaluations of the candidates and in voting decisions. The 1992 campaign provided an important test of the negativity effect in that Clinton's greatest perceived shortcoming-integrit was one of the most positive aspects of Bush's personality. As the negativity effect predicts, integrity was of greater importance in appraisals of Clinton than Bush. A second study showed that people view political leaders positively, supporting the figure-ground explanation for negativity, which proposes that negative candidate characteristics are weighted heavily in contrast to generally positive views of leaders.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167296223007