There are numerous qualities we might hope for in our politicians, but perhaps foremost among them is an open mind that can ensure that it’s evidence rather than ideology that guides their thinking and their policies.  Alas, a new study suggests that such a mindset might actually be harmful to the career of a politician.  Indeed, it found that the most successful candidates tended to score lower on openness to new experiences.

The findings emerged from a survey of over 3,300 candidates standing in elections across Ontario and British Columbia that was designed to gauge the personality of the respondent according to the Big Five personality traits.  The researchers also sent the same questionnaire to 1,665 members of the public.  Of the 1,200 or so politicians who responded, just under 500 went on to win the election they were contesting.

Unrepresentative

While politicians like to paint themselves as representative of their constituents, the data suggests otherwise.  They were considerably more likely to be male with a university education than the general public, with distinct personality differences emerging as well.

For instance, politicians tended to score lower on neuroticism, but higher on extraversion than the general public.  They were also scoring higher on openness to experience.

Whereas most of these were positive characteristics however, openness to new experience seemed to negative impact the electoral chances of the candidates.  The data showed that those more open to new experiences were less likely to win their election.

The authors hypothesize that openness is associated with holding left-wing views, which could alienate the candidate from right-wing voters.  They also suggest that being open to new experiences may result in the candidate changing their mind more frequently, which can make it difficult to stick to a consistent message.

Given the clear virtue of having politicians who are able to take an evidence-based approach to their work and adapt their stance when evidence changes, this is perhaps a worrying finding.  It will be even more worrying if political parties start actively recruiting for candidates with lower openness to new experience scores.