The study, out last month, found through two separate samplings that partisanship influenced judgment on a candidate’s attractiveness. Researchers surveyed legislative aides affiliated with a campaign in Wisconsin, along with self-identified partisans in Minnesota.
“I think what’s surprising is that people are under this assumption that physical attraction is fixed, but in both studies we find evidence that partisanship colors the perception of what is ‘attractive,’” said Kevin M. Kniffin, postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University and the study’s lead researcher.
Both groups were studied in the 2010 election cycle and given pictures of male and female political candidates both familiar and unfamiliar to the constituents. Familiar candidates included Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and their 2008 opponents John McCain and Sarah Palin.
Generally, Democrats and Republicans chose the politicians who were members of their party as more physically attractive.
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