ABSTRACT
As the 2012 presidential election campaign unfolded, it became clear that the Democratic and Republican candidates held clear and distinct positions on a wide range of policy issues. With the US economy stuck in first gear, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney argued the merits of austerity versus stimulus and of continued tax cuts for everyone versus raising taxes on the wealthy. Media accounts of presidential elections routinely emphasize the role of the likability and perceived character of the presidential candidates. Voters do not need a great deal of information about government and politics, about the presidential election, or about the candidates in order to form images of the personal traits of presidential candidates. Presidential candidates contribute to the importance of personal traits by stressing such characteristics in their campaigns. The use of personal traits to assess presidential candidates may be encouraged by the fact that presidents are commonly portrayed in personal terms by historians and biographers.
