Do we get good leadership when we fall for charismatic candidates?
How much does charisma matter in politics and should it?The Independent
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Whether you're leading a cult or the country, we all know it helps to have charisma.
00:04But just how charismatic are our current election candidates?
00:07Boring.
00:08The personality of, like, mayonnaise.
00:10Boring old fart.
00:11AI-generated, like.
00:12Oh dear.
00:13But how much does charisma matter in politics?
00:17And should it?
00:18So I don't actually think that a lack of charisma is necessarily detrimental for politics, but
00:23it certainly makes it harder to win a campaign as a politician.
00:27This is James Weinberg, a lecturer in political behaviour.
00:30He wrote a book based on how little people trust the government right now.
00:33He believes that currently politics is dominated by big personalities.
00:37Some of the most charismatic politicians are those that we might see as the most well-known.
00:42Which maybe isn't a good thing.
00:44Drops keep falling on my head.
00:48Charisma correlates quite strongly with narcissism, and grandiose narcissism.
00:52Critics also score highly for the personality trait of extroversion.
00:55Once you're in government, charisma, especially if anchored in narcissism, is very dangerous.
01:01I'm one of the smartest people ever born in the world.
01:04True.
01:05But there is good reason why you might choose to vote for someone based on their personality.
01:09This is what Amanda Bittner, a professor in political science, argues.
01:14It's a tricky process, right?
01:15Because we as voters are expected to know all kinds of things about politics, party
01:20platforms, contemporary issues, and have a sense of what the solutions might be.
01:26And unfortunately, that's not really the way the world works.
01:29Most voters don't have that much knowledge about politics.
01:33Most voters don't have the time it takes to become experts.
01:35But we are good at knowing who we like and who we don't like.
01:38That's why party leaders are useful.
01:40Thinking about party leaders can actually serve as a bit of a shortcut for voters, providing
01:47them with information that they otherwise wouldn't have.
01:49But can we judge politicians as well as we judge those in our own social circle?
01:53We very rarely get the opportunity to judge a politician face to face, one on one, as
01:59we might do with a family member, a friend, or a colleague at work.
02:03Most of us just see them on camera.
02:05People can behave pretty strangely on TV.
02:08Oh God.
02:09But seriously.
02:10What are you like in front of the camera?
02:15In 2010, the UK had its first TV election debate between David Cameron, Nick Clegg,
02:19and Gordon Brown, giving the public a new opportunity to see how political candidates
02:23performed relatively off the cuff and under the spotlight.
02:26According to most sources, it was Clegg who came out on top, and Gordon Brown who stumbled.
02:31Everybody went mad about Nick Clegg, because Nick Clegg was, even more so than David Cameron,
02:36very comfortable on camera.
02:38He was charismatic, whilst at the same time criticizing Gordon Brown for looking too awkward
02:45and speaking in a slightly wooden way and not coming across in an engaging manner.
02:51When actually, from a technical perspective, Gordon Brown had all the hallmarks of someone
02:56who was extremely competent.
02:58Research from 2012 found that people valued charisma because they viewed it as a sign
03:02of honesty and intelligence.
03:04However, what they were actually voting for was someone who performed best on TV.
03:09This included how attractive they were.
03:11A study from 2014 found that the public perceived charismatic leaders as more effective, whilst
03:16surprisingly they perceived leaders who were open-minded and ready to consider nuanced
03:20information as ineffective.
03:22But we have been through a lot in the last 10 years.
03:24Brexit, coronavirus, cost of living crisis, five prime ministers, and a host of political
03:29scandals.
03:30What's all of that done to public opinion?
03:32The data that I've seen in the last little while suggests that the average voter thinks
03:36about politicians in the same way that they think about used car salesmen.
03:41I want to get for you what I got, and I'm going to make it free, you're not going to
03:46pay for it.
03:47I want my politicians boring, I'll even like to a major.
03:50If you're going to be exciting yet incompetent, Boris, what's the point?
03:56I think we've been fooled once with Boris.
03:58My mates all voted for Boris because he was funny and charismatic, and now they're all
04:03regretting it after all these years, so.
04:05Because I have nothing to say about this matter except off you some tea.
04:08Some people just can't seem to get over the impact Boris Johnson had.
04:11No one can deny that he has charisma, but it would make sense if our current leaders
04:15didn't want to be compared to him.
04:17Both candidates are very conscious of the fact that the public has an entrenched perception
04:21of politicians as self-interested and slightly sleazy at the moment, and therefore they're
04:28trying to distance themselves from playing the charisma game, so to speak.
04:32OK, but are we right to assume most politicians are sleazy?
04:37That in itself is dangerous, because distrust can lead us to disengage.
04:42Outside of, let's say, the ten politicians you can name, there have been another 640
04:49working very doggedly in Parliament and in their constituencies to serve the public well.
04:53Do you know the name of your local MP?
04:55Oh, flippin' heck.
04:56I don't know.
04:57I don't know.
04:58No, I don't.
04:59No, I don't.
05:00Do you know anything that they've done?
05:04Anything that they've done recently?
05:06No.
05:07I was wondering if you knew the name of your local MP?
05:10Yeah, Ben Bradley.
05:12I don't know how to describe it.
05:13He's a...
05:14F***head.