Personality Politics? The Role of Leader Evaluations in Democratic Elections

Personality Politics? assesses the role that voters' perceptions and evaluations of leaders play in democratic elections. The book presents evidence from an array of countries with diverse historical and institutional contexts, and employs innovative methodologies to determine the importance of leaders in democracies worldwide.

Addressing such questions as 'Where do leaders effects come from?', 'In which institutional contexts are leader effects more important?' and, 'To which kinds of voters are leaders a more prominent factor for voting behaviour?', the authors seek to determine whether the roles leaders play enhances or damages the electoral process, and what impact this has on the quality of democracy in electoral democracies today.

Marina Costa Lobo is a Political Science Researcher at the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Lisbon. Her research has focused on electoral behaviour and political institutions. She is co-director of the Portuguese Election Study since 2001. Recent publications include Portugal at the Polls (with A. Freire and P. Magalhaes) and academic articles in Political Research Quarterly, European Journal of Political Research, Electoral Studies and Party Politics .


John Curtis is a Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He was co-director of the British Election Study from 1983 to 1997, is a former member of the steering committee of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Project, and has been a co-editor of the British Social Attitudes series since 1994. Recent publications include The Rise of New Labour (with A. Heath and R. Jowell) and Has Devolution Delivered? (ed. With C. Bromley, D. McCrone and A. Park).

Introduction, Marina Costa Lobo and John Curtice
Political or Not? Where do leader evaluations come from?
1. Leader Evaluations and Partisan Stereotypes, A Comparative Analysis, Amanda Bittner
2. What comes first, Character Traits or Political Assessments? An Experimental Study, Sascha Huber
Systematic or Not? When do leader evaluations matter?
3. The impact of Leaders in Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes, John Curtice and Marco Lisi
4. Personality Politics in Single party and Coalition Governments, Solidea Formichelli
5. Leader Effects and Party Polarization, Romain Lachat
Sophisticates or Fools? Who takes leader evaluations into account?
7. Political Sophistication and Media Consumption as Factors of Personalization, Guillem Rico
7. Party Dealignment and Leader Effects, Marina Costa Lobo
Competence or Character? What about leaders matters?
8. Between Leadership and Charisma, the importance of Leader, Michael Lewis-Beck and Richard Nadeau
9. Determining the components of Leader Effects in a Post-Communist Context, Andrei Gheorghita
10. Emotions towards Leaders and Voting Behaviour, Tatjana Rudi
Conclusion, Marina Costa Lobo and John Curtice