POLITICS AND PERSUASIONLausanne presented Swiss undergraduates with photographs of pairs
of competing candidates from the 2002 French parliamentary elec-
tions. They had no idea who these candidates were, but their task was to
indicate which candidate in each pair they felt was the most competent
based on appearance. For about 70 percent of the pairs, the candidate
rated as looking most competent was the candidate who had actually
won the election in real life. The disconcerting implication is that the
real-life voters must also have based their choice of candidate on looks
- at least in part.
As if the arbitrary influence of polling-station location and candidate
appearance were not worrying enough, the position of candidates’ names
on a ballot paper has also been shown to influence voting behaviour.
Studies involving voters with some knowledge of the candidates have
revealed an advantage to being listed higher up the ballot paper. The
reason is that weighing up the options takes mental effort. By the time
voters reach the bottom of the ballot paper their mental resources are
running low, which means the candidates in these positions don’t get
full consideration.
Research presented by Andy Johnson of Coventry University at the
British Psychological Society’s annual conference in 2010 found a further
influence of ballot-paper position when participants were asked to vote