First-time voters and honest political leaders: evidence from the 2019 presidential election in Romania

ABSTRACT

Voters favour some personal characteristics of political leaders over others. So far, we know little about why honesty is one of these characteristics. This article identifies what makes first-time voters to prefer honest political leaders. It uses an original survey conducted after the 2019 Romanian presidential elections. Our analysis argues and tests the explanatory power of three categories of determinants: trust in political institutions, voting for candidates outside politics, and electoral campaign. We find that the preferences of first-time voters for honest leaders are rooted in positive attitudes such as trust in institutions and the rejection of negative campaigning.

KEYWORDS:

• First-time voters
• political leaders
• honesty
• campaign
• Romania

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Apart from the controls included in the analysis, we also tested the effect of other variables that could have influenced the preference for honest political leader, e.g. media exposure, political interest, knowledge of politics, the use of political news or left-fight self-placement. There is no empirical support for any of them and they are not reported in the findings, to keep the explanatory models parsimonious and easier to interpret.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sergiu Gherghina

Sergiu Gherghina is an Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the Department of Politics, University of Glasgow. His research interests lie in party politics, legislative and voting behavior, democratization, and the use of direct democracy.

Paul Tap

Paul Tap is a Research Assistant at the Department of International Studies and Contemporary History, Babes-Bolyai University. His research interests lie in political leadership, political parties and security studies.