He's Cute, He Has My Vote.

Last night I was watching the Cafferty File on CNN, and with midterm elections coming up, Cafferty was talking about a popular voting trend based on...good looks.

The latest study released by MIT has found that people will vote for a candidate because he "looks the part" whether they actually know his stance on the issues.

These findings are not just specific to America, but across the globe. Cafferty goes on to explain:

According to the study, just by knowing which candidate looked better, researchers could accurately predict the winner in 68 percent of Mexican elections and 75 percent of some Brazilian elections.

Are we seriously exercising our democratic liberties based off of which candidate looks better?

But this is actually a phenomenon we studied in my business class the other day (yup, the same lecture I mentioned in my last blog post on leadership). People said that key factors in leadership were charisma, competence, and character. Leaders could give off the perception that they would be a good leader if they had charisma, were well spoken, well dressed, and overall in good poise. Their charisma transcended into the public's belief that they must also be competent and have good character - the trifecta for a good leader.

Sounds to me like our society is taking the importance of image too far. If you want to read more about MIT's study you can visit the Cafferty File by going here.

And that's my two cents.