Voter Perceptions of President Donald Trump’s Personality Disorder Traits: Implications of Political Affiliation

Abstract

The short form of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (SCATI) was used to measure traits associated with 14 personality disorders (according to essential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria) in Donald Trump shortly after the fall 2016 election. Liberal or conservative participants (N = 219, mean age = 38.20 years, range = 18–79 years) were randomly assigned to view a positive or negative compilation of official campaign videos depicting Trump and then completed the SCATI. The general hypothesis was supported: Respondents’ political affiliation related with personality perceptions (although campaign video compilations did not). Despite differences in magnitude, the relative strength of the traits associated with the disorders was highly similar between conservatives and liberals (intraclass correlation coefficient = .76, p < .001). On the basis of overall rankings (independent of respondent’s party affiliation), Trump’s personality was collectively perceived to be at or above the 99th normative percentile for traits associated with four personality disorders (sadistic, narcissistic, antisocial, and passive-aggressive).

Keywords

personality Trump political psychology narcissistic sadistic

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