Negativity in Impressions of Presidential Candidates Revisited: The 1992 Election

This research tests the hypothesis that the negativity effect characterized impressions of Bill Clinton and George Bush in the 1992 presidential election. Both aggregate-level and idiographic-level analyses revealed negativity: Personality weaknesses were more important than personality strengths in the American public's evaluations of the candidates and in voting decisions. The 1992 campaign provided an important test of the negativity effect in that Clinton's greatest perceived shortcoming-integrit was one of the most positive aspects of Bush's personality. As the negativity effect predicts, integrity was of greater importance in appraisals of Clinton than Bush. A second study showed that people view political leaders positively, supporting the figure-ground explanation for negativity, which proposes that negative candidate characteristics are weighted heavily in contrast to generally positive views of leaders.