Who values competent minds and who likes warm hearts? The role of right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in shaping voter preferences for political candidates

Decades of research have recognized political candidates' competence and warmth as predictors of voter preferences, but to whom these distinct personalities are most appealing remains unclear. In the current research, we investigated how voters' Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) influenced their preferences for highly competent or warm political candidates. In two studies, we experimentally manipulated candidate competence (Study 1) and warmth (Study 2) and measured voter preferences using overall evaluations, the feeling thermometer, and the likelihood-of-voting rating. We also measured perceived ability to clean up danger, perceived ability to win competitions, and perceived caring about people as potential mediators. The results suggested that a candidate's high competence (vs. neutral traits) increased preferences for the candidate among voters high in RWA more than those low in RWA. However, despite some indication, the effect that a candidate's high warmth (vs. neutral traits) increased such preferences among voters low in RWA more than those high in RWA lacked robustness across different voting preference measures. Additionally, the moderating effects of SDO on the relationships between candidate traits and voter preferences were not significant. Neither RWA nor SDO moderated the indirect effects of candidate competence and warmth through the proposed mediators.