How does the perception of a politician's personality influence electoral preferences?

How does the perception of a politician's personality influence electoral preferences?

Sample: 456 americans - 42% democrats, 46% republicans.

Participants rated the personalities of Trump and Biden using a Dark Tetrad questionnaire - Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism.

Shown: both politicians are perceived as exhibiting traits of the Dark Tetrad. However, if we consider the ratings separately for Democrat and Republican participants, there are significant differences. Democrats perceive Trump as more narcissistic, psychopathic, and sadistic. Republicans, on the other hand, consider Biden to exhibit more Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism - Trump always scores higher here). Narcissism and Machiavellianism are associated with increased support for a candidate, while psychopathy and sadism are linked to decreased support.

Who do you think is more psychopathic?

🦄 Biden 🐳 Trump

Link to an article.