Authoritarianism and Preference for the Presidential Candidate Perceived to Be Higher on the Power Motive

Abstract

To assess whether higher authoritarianism is linked to a preference for the presidential candidate perceived as higher on the power motive, 208 undergraduates responded just prior to the 1988 election to a revised F-scale, an item to indicate preference for U.S. president, and an item to indicate on a 7-point scale their perceptions of where Bush and Dukakis stood on the power motive. A brief description of “the power motive” prefaced the item. Excluding cases in which Bush and Dukakis received identical power ratings, a dummy coded “powervote” variable was created to reflect preference for the candidate perceived by each student to be higher on the power motive. Authoritarianism correlated positively with the powervote variable and regression analysis indicated that it continued to do so when sex, age, Bush and Dukakis power, and candidate preference were controlled. Results suggest that higher authoritarianism may promote the election of a presidential candidate seen to display power regardless of that candidate's party affiliation.