Former president, Donald Trump, said at his rally in Pennsylvania, "I look better than Kamala Harris." Many people have commented about the way Trump looks, usually making fun of his choice of "tanning" color. They also mention the shape of his physique. Neither of which I need to give an example. You would have had to live under a rock not to know most of the comments about him. We don't need to address whether Trump is attractive. NOPE! That said, does attractiveness play a role in who people choose for president?
Studies going at least as far back to the 1970s tended to show a positive correlation between handsomeness and how subjects assessed a candidate. Scholars sometimes reasoned that the attractiveness effect took place because voters without a lot of information about a candidate used good looks to infer other good qualities—a kind of “halo effect.” Voters appear primarily drawn to faces that suggested competence.
Since all of the presidents have been men, we are in new territory, discovering does attractiveness matter when choosing a female president. The backlash from Trump's comments about Kamala Harris appearance, would make you believe looks do not matter. Looks have always matter.
Did looks make a difference for John Kennedy? Google him and you will find descriptions such as, witty, charismatic, and handsome, John Kennedy's youthful vigor attracted a new generation of Americans to public service and political engagement. At 43 years of age, Kennedy became the nation's youngest-elected president. His debate with Former President Nixon, solidified that a candidate's appearance mattered. Nixon looked a mess during the debate while Kennedy looked cool, calm, and collected.
Obama is considered to be handsome by I dare say, millions of women of all races. Obama's sex appeal hasn't hurt him in such images of him exited an ocean in his swim trunks. His physical fitness captured in photos for the world to see. What other president would get high marks in a swimsuit competition? He has touched a nerve among Black women in particular, who consider him an IBM (Ideal Black Man) — educated, eloquent, tall, attractive, family oriented, ambitious and down to earth.
President Joe Biden chooses outfits that make him look younger. Donald Trump opts for old-fashioned dark suits and long ties to convey a message of traditional masculinity. Choices like these are attempts by candidates to morph into the ideal "handsome man" by the public's standards.
Studies show, people vote for candidates who put a lot of effort in looking natural and effortless, but not perfect. Some suggest this is why Mitt Romney was not elected; he looked or presented himself as flawless. People also questioned if he was too handsome. Former President Bill Clinton had the ability to talk naturally and with ease with many ethnicities, such as the Black community. This sense of naturalness made voters feel he was trustworthy. Unlike Mitt Romney, Clinton was known not to be perfect. He was flawed, especially when it came to women. President Clinton was a president many women may have voted for due to his charisma and charm, if not for his physical features.
In 2005, Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov and colleagues published an astounding study. Todorov and colleagues developed computer models of how faces can suggest character traits like trustworthiness and likability. The competent face shape is masculine but approachable, with a square jaw, high cheekbones, and large eyes. The shape of the eyebrows can suggest anger, for instance, while a long distance between the eyes and the mouth can suggest sadness. An incompetent face, beady, close-together eyes paired with high eyebrows suggest fearfulness. Mitt Romney vs. Newt Gingrich: How much do looks matter in presidential politics? (slate.com)
So, is Trump attractive? Evolutionary psychologist, Todd Shackelford of Oakland University. said Trump is not, from a scientific point-of-view, good-looking. “Indications of non-natural skin texture or color, non-natural hair”—such as Trump’s conspicuous fake tan and orange-tinted ’do—“these are cues that people read as, ‘Something is wrong,’ and that decrease ratings of attractiveness, according to Shackelford. But it seems Trump knows, when it comes to assessing the rich and famous, women are far more forgiving of physical attributes. This may be why Trump has so much White female support - the lure of money and power, not good looks
A 1976 profile of the young mogul in the New York Times gushes: He is tall, lean and blond, with dazzling white teeth, and he looks ever so much like Robert Redford. He rides around town in a chauffeured silver Cadillac with his initials, DJT, on the plates. He dates slinky fashion models, belongs to the most elegant clubs and, at only 30 years of age, estimates that he is worth “more than $200 million.”
Trump, who did look a little bit like Robert Redford in those days, described “flair” as one of his favorite words. “If a man has flair … and is smart and somewhat conservative and has a taste for what people want, he’s bound to be successful in New York,” he said. Trump informs people how to SEE him. The shtick appears to have worked on Andy Warhol, who wrote in his diaries in 1981 that Trump was “good-looking” and “a butch guy.”
Trump’s perceived virility declined in the 1980s and ’90s in tandem with his prestige and financial troubles. When he no longer could rely on youthful good looks and a large bank account, Trump turned to BEHAVING ugly to draw people to him. Ugly IS his attractiveness.
“The Ugly American” – a phrase made famous by the 1958 political novel about U.S. policy in Southeast Asia by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer – can no longer refer just to the prototypical loud, ignorant American. Today the title has taken on a real human face, and that is the face of Donald Trump. Like in 2016, Trump must make a campaign of darkness and disarray. He tries to take away the electorate's desires for a hopeful future. He strips the voters of the excitement of a new beginning, and demoralizes, demeans, and dejects. Donald Trump embodies ugly. This time, ugly is his only way forward. Ugly is how he surprisingly achieved accidental success in 2016. Ugly is how he will succeed again.
Because he is ugly in behavior, he tries to make his opponents ugly or whoever displeases him. He has no problem trying to ugly up women. When facing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Trump said, "If Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?" [April 16, 2015]. Facing another female candidate, Carly Fiorina, he stated, "Look at that face. Would anybody vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" [Sept. 9, 2015]. On Arianna Huffington he stated, "Unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man — he made a good decision." [Aug. 28, 2012]. On Stormy Daniels, he also commented, "Horseface" [Oct. 16, 2018] "I never liked horseface. That wouldn't be the one. There is no one. We have a great First Lady." [March 25, 2023]. You get the picture?
If Donald Trump wants to focus on things that fade and don't matter and Kamala focuses of bringing joy and hope for a better and brighter future, I'll take what she is offering. Beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder. Thank goodness looks are not on the ballot. But if it was, scientific evidence shows Trump would lose by a landslide.
I will end with a famous quote I learned as a child; "Beauty is as beauty does," which means that beauty is worthless unless it comes with a kind, generous soul. Whether someone is actually “beautiful” should be judged by their actions, not their appearance.
