Category: 2012 Presidential Election

Index of Studies Conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics

Partial index of psychological studies of U.S. presidents and presidential candidates, foreign leaders, and leading terrorist figures conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks in Osawatomie, Kansas

Barack Obama

Summary: A psychological profile of U.S. President Barack Obama, developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics during Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, reveals that the president is a highly confident, moderately accommodating and deliberative, somewhat reserved personality type best described as a confident conciliator. Specifically, Obama is primarily an Ambitious/confident personality, complemented by secondary Accommodating/cooperative, Conscientious/respectful, and Retiring/reserved features. Obama’s personality profile provides a stable framework for anticipating his likely leadership style as president, as outlined in this report of how Obama will govern, if reelected.

Mitt Romeny

Election 2012: Romney May Face Lasting Damage from New Hampshire Campaign

Summary: Aubrey Immelman, director of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics at St. John’s University in Minnesota, said Mitt Romney may be overcompensating for his inability to connect with regular people. “Romney is neither an introvert nor an extravert,” said Immelman. “The key is his conscientiousness. People who are highly conscientious are just not good campaigners. He might be a good executive, but campaigning is his Achilles’ heel.”

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Summary: A psychological analysis of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney revealed that Romney’s primary personality pattern is Conscientious/dutiful, complemented by secondary Dominant/asserting, Ambitious/confident, and Accommodating/cooperative features and a minor Retiring/reserved tendency — a personality composite that does not predict success in presidential elections.