Work Class for Warmth

Believing that a political candidate has a working-class background leads to seeing that candidate as having a warmer personality. This, in turn, tends to increase the attractiveness of the candidate regardless of the candidate’s gender or race.
     In the University of Richmond and University of South Carolina studies documenting this, the working-class background was portrayed by describing the occupations of the candidate’s parents as having been letter carrier and school teacher, the candidate having received full financial aid while in college, and the candidate having been captain of the college soccer team. The comparison profile, of a candidate lacking a working-class background, described the parents as an attorney and stay-at-home mom, not mentioning tuition financial aid, and saying the candidate had been president of the university sailing club.
     The researchers point out that a candidate for a high-profile political office portraying themselves as having a working-class background often takes a carefully crafted effort. Winning a high-profile election requires substantial money. The most promising way to navigate this may be to say you started out much poorer than you are now. If you’re running as a Republican, this approach has the added benefit of indicating business competence, a characteristic Republican voters admire.
     However, voters distinguish business competence from general intelligence. Researchers at Emory University and University of British Columbia assembled photos of candidates in past U.S. congressional races and asked people to rate a selection of the photos on personality traits. Some traits were related to competence—reliability, effectiveness, practicality. Some were associated with intelligence—cleverness, talent in discerning the motivations of others. Study participants were not told the name, party affiliation, or congressional district of the candidates in the photos.
     When the physical appearance of a Republican candidate had higher associations with competence than intelligence, the candidate was more likely to have won their election battle. For Democratic candidates, the winning combo was a physical appearance with higher associations of intelligence than of competence.
     Why? Voters are more likely to believe campaign promises from a candidate fitting the personality image associated with their political party.
     Yet, as most voters come to realize sooner or later, campaign promises may have little more than a passing resemblance to subsequent voting records. Political scientists at Duke University and University of California-Berkeley find that politicians raised in working-class families are not noticeably more likely to vote in ways which benefit the working classes.

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Attack with Credibility 

Combine Competence with Warmth