“Dark” positivity: Do candidates with a more aversive personality use positive campaigning more often?

Abstract

Although positive campaigning is a widely used communication strategy in election campaigns, determinants aside from political characteristics and gender are largely unknown. However, the personality traits of candidates could affect campaigning strategies beyond these factors. Recent research shows that people with an aversive (“dark”) personality tend to self-promote and are attracted to leadership positions. Transferring these findings to self-promotion in election campaigns, I ask if candidates with a more aversive personality use positive campaigning more often. 2,133 candidates who ran for 10 state parliaments in Germany in 2021, 2022, and 2023 self-reported how often they used positive campaigning. Analyses via structural equation modeling show that the candidates’ aversive personality is positively and significantly related to their use of positive campaigning and that this relationship holds when controlling for political and sociodemographic characteristics. The implications of the findings and potential pathways for further research are discussed.