Talking about politics is a risky business, especially in the year of heated and divisive elections. Still, let’s do that. Our goal is not to sort out who is right or wrong, or mend political fences, even if we could. As always, our focus is on personality traits. In a recent survey on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we found our respondents displayed certain trends and preferences with regard to the different parties, candidates, and voting behaviors. In this series of articles, we will discuss these trends and their possible explanations, doing our best to decipher what drives different personality types to polls. In this survey, only answers from respondents based in the United States and over 18 years of age were taken into account.
Let’s begin with the political parties and their personality profiles. Parties are designed to organize people who are politically like-minded to create a voting bloc, offer a legislative agenda and place candidates in the running for office. This presidential election has shown us that the “like-mindedness” of a party can shift and change and cause upheavals within parties. The primary successes of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have clearly demonstrated that it is not “business as usual” in either the Democratic or Republican Parties. But that aside, is there anything in our personality make-ups that pushes us toward one party or another?
The Democratic Personality
A Democrat who answered our poll is slightly more likely to be an Extravert rather than an Introvert – but only by a negligible difference. However, they are clearly more likely to be Intuitive, Feeling, Prospecting and Turbulent over Observant, Thinking, Judging and Assertive. Combining all these traits, Turbulent Campaigners (ENFP-T) are the best reflection of the Democratic voter from the personality perspective.
The Republican Party 2012 Platform included items like traditional family values, gun owners’ rights, strong military and fiscal austerity. They uphold the First Amendment, but champion it primarily as it mostly affects Judeo-Christian expression and moral standards. Unfortunately for those who hold this position, families are becoming less traditional and secularism is gaining a foothold in America. Some defeats in the so-called culture wars have caused them to lose their footing in the last presidential elections. One difficulty with which Republicans contend, by their own admission, is that they have not connected with the changing demographics in the United States. The Republican National Committee (RNC) itself highlighted this after losing the presidential election of 2012.
Hispanic and other immigrant populations have exploded in the United States in recent decades, and many immigrants did not feel the Republican Party welcomed them. Republicans would counter that they welcome those who come legally. Their only objection is to the undocumented immigrant. Nonetheless, this inability to connect with the shifting ethnicity of the population speaks to a general uneasiness with change, often a characteristic of Sentinel personality types.
We need the tradition and stability that Sentinels defend. They are an invaluable balance when the less practical visionaries over-extend their influence. They are great at getting the world’s business done in an efficient manner. Sentinel personalities prefer thinking inside the box, but within that box they can do a lot. Republicans are more likely to support that than any radical change.
One criticism often offered about Republicans is that they are “cold-hearted.” They talk about cutting welfare. For them, the sometimes inhuman free market becomes a solution to most human problems including poverty and lack of health care. They often take a more libertarian view that it’s not the government’s job to take care of the people to the extent they are. Like their libertarian cousins, they are often yoked with the reputation that they have an “empathy gap” in their party. Republicans bandied about the term “compassionate conservative” during the 2000 election campaign to combat this image.
This perceived lack of concern for others is reflected in our poll by the predominance of the Thinking trait among Republicans. Personality types with the Thinking trait do not always display empathy. It’s not necessarily that empathy isn’t present, but that they put logic first. Emotional responses to a situation is seen as the lesser alternative.
Those who prefer the Thinking trait may want to “teach a man to fish” rather than offer them fish to eat. Why should the hungry get fish they haven’t caught themselves? What happens tomorrow when there is nobody around to give them their next meal? Republicans often talk about setting up a cycle of dependence. Helping another with handouts may not seem rational to those personalities who rely on the Thinking trait.
Assertive Debaters (ENTP-A) score as the Type with the highest percentage who claim to be Libertarian. They are generally people with agile minds who are eager to defend their positions and relish a victory when they get one. Debaters are known to argue for the sport of it. Libertarians are perhaps the most purely philosophical and concept-based political group on the American scene. Because of this, this Party would be a solid match for a like-minded Debater.
In terms of Strategies, there were no notable differences: