The image of political candidates: Values and voter preference

Abstract

3 separate studies generated images of political figures by having respondents complete the Survey of Interpersonal Values as they felt a target individual would. In 2 of the studies, rank preferences for the figures were also obtained. Findings indicate that (a) prior presidential candidates, evaluated by 53 male New York adults, generated reliably distinguishable images, as did 5 1972 presidential possibilites rated by 210 graduate students; (b) 4 members of the Washington press corps and the New York Ss yielded highly similar images of Johnson; (c) Nixon's image was very stable over a 4-yr period; (d) the respondent's preference for a candidate was associated with viewing him as benevolent but not as egotistical or excessively desirous of power; and (e) Sato and Johnson were viwed by 49 Japanese undergraduates as being highly similar to one another and less benevolent but more independent and egotistical than Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse Tung, or Kosygin. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)