House candidates with that Ralph Lauren look gain a “beauty premium” of up to 10 percentage points in races with more pedestrian-looking challengers, the latest sign the nation’s knowledge or concern for politics is just skin deep, according to a new elections study.
The scholarly report in the prestigious journal American Politics Research and provided to the Washington Examiner concluded that “an extremely attractive candidate running against an extremely unattractive candidate can expect to obtain an electoral ‘beauty premium’ of more than 7 percent of the vote.”
“This number alone would be enough to decide most marginal races,” the study said, later adding that the premium could reach 10 percent.
The study from the University of Ottawa of the 2008 House races sneered that American voters are lazy and fickle. The authors said American voters don’t do much research before jumping into the polling booth to make their choice other than sizing up candidates based on their looks.
They also found that voter focus on beauty as a deciding factor for picking candidates has a big limitation. It only works when the candidates are of the same sex.
When the candidates are opposing sexes, voters still base their decision on looks, but instead of beauty they look for indications of competence. But the results are the same, with the candidate perceived as looking more competent getting an edge.
“Voters tend to be easily influenced by good-looking candidates,” said the study. Beauty, it said, is an “easy way out strategy for uninformed voters” sizing up same-sex candidates. When the sexes are different, the study concluded, “the easiest move is to infer, based on physical appearance, which candidate seems to be more competent.”
It doesn’t always work, though. Asked about the Virginia House race in Washington’s suburbs pitting Del. Barbara Comstock and Democrat John Foust, one of the authors picked Foust as more competent. Voters gave Comstock a 12-point lead in a new poll.
OHIO’S JOHN KASICH CAN BE ADDED TO LIST OF 2016 REPUBLICANS
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, once thought to be on the endangered list, is cruising to re-election victory and getting new attention as a potential, and strong, presidential candidate.
“I am willing to believe Kasich could deliver Ohio to the ticket — and that is not chopped liver,” said a top strategist who worked with Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush. “I’m happy if he runs.”
Kasich has turned Ohio around, building a massive rainy day fund from the 89 cents he inherited. He also cut taxes and even OK’d Obamacare, while cutting Medicare costs. “He saved the state,” said one Ohio insider.
Even better for Republicans: His big lead over a flawed Democratic challenger has freed up millions of political dollars that are now being used to help the GOP win the Senate and close gubernatorial races, something Kasich will get credit for.
OBAMA PRESSED TO SAVE HONEYBEES, BUTTERFLIES
Political pressure on the administration is growing to ban the use of pesticides by farmers and homeowners to save pollinators such as bees and butterflies, some of which are on the verge of extinction.
In a rare sign of unity, 60 Democrats just demanded in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency that a new family of pesticides called neonicotinoids be limited or banned. Beekeepers blame them for losses that have reached 50 percent annually, threatening much of the nation’s crops.
The chemical industry is fighting the effort, though several European nations, some U.S. states and cities and now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are phasing out the use of neonicotinoids.
Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture, the industry journal, provided the letter to the Examiner and said the number of Democrats signing it should have an impact. “That speaks volumes on the liberal support this has and may put some pressure on others to support the bees,” he said.
MARKET IS VERY HOT FOR HITLER’S FAVORITE ARTISTS
Adolf Hitler’s favorite artists and artwork, shunned by the world for decades, is now on fire, with art collectors in America and Europe offering bids of more than $150,000.
“The major auction houses won’t touch these artists due to their acceptance by and collaboration with the Nazis,” said Maryland auctioneer Bill Panagopulos, president of Alexander Historical Auctions. But, he added, “ there’s a market here.”
Marius Martens, a Dutch art dealer, said art from Karl Walther or sculptor Georg Kolbe, whom Hitler liked and whose work he displayed in Third Reich buildings, has finally caught the eye of collectors because the World War II period is now popular.
“This is only the beginning,” Martens said, adding that he has received death threats for selling the artwork. Panagopulos said he is already planning a sale of the works.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s Washington Secrets columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
