• Introduction


• What Information do we have about How Voters Perceive Party Leaders?


• The Two-Dimensional Structure of Traits


• The Impact of Voters' Characteristics on the Evaluations of Party Leaders


• The Impact of The Partisan Stereotype


• The Impact of Party Leaders' Traits in Elections


• Party Leaders in Different Contexts: The Role of Political Institutions


• Conclusion


• Appendix A: Methodological Notes


• Appendix B: Data, Question Wording, and Coding Information


• Appendix C: Missing Data and the Challenge of Exploratory Factor Analysis


• References

Amanda Bittner studies public opinion and voting, and her main research interests include the effects of knowledge and information on voter decision-making, as well as the institutional and structural incentives affecting voting behaviour in both Canadian and Comparative contexts. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Memorial University, Canada.

Campaign organizers and the media appear to agree that voters' perceptions of party leaders have an important impact in elections.Platform or Personality? examines voters' evaluations of party leaders in elections around the world and finds that leaders have an unmistakeable and consistent impact on voters' decisions at the ballot box