# How much will personality determine the Presidential Outcome? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481 "2012-06-27T17:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481/21 "2012-07-07T21:42:00Z")
The best John Boehner can come up with for Mitt are[back-handed compliments](http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/john-boehner-cannot-make-people-love-mitt-romney.html): > [@](#): > > “The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney.” > [@](#): > > “Mitt Romney has some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons … some people that are going to vote for him." > [@](#): > > "Solid guy, he’s going to do a great job, even if you don’t fall in love with him.” With friends like that, who needs Democrats? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481/22 "2012-07-08T00:01:32Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Yeah, it could be interesting. Didn’t Ross Perot try stuff like that in 1992 with charts and graphs and junk? I understand most of his economic predictions were way off, but at least he spelled out his ideas and concerns at a level of detail beyond the mere sound-bite. Yes. And it was working pretty well, too, until Perot became incapable of hiding his control-freakiness and general insanity. Remember, he quit in mid-campaign, then came back in September claiming that he quit because the FBI had threatened to disrupt his daughter’s wedding, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481/23 "2012-07-10T03:12:15Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yes. And it was working pretty well, too, until Perot became incapable of hiding his control-freakiness and general insanity. Remember, he quit in mid-campaign, then came back in September claiming that he quit because the FBI had threatened to disrupt his daughter’s wedding, among other things. I thought it had more to just the dropping out, and not his craziness. He lost all his momentum and good will. At least, all of us in second grade were planning on voting for him in the Nickelodeon elections. (Or maybe just class elections). Yeah, we followed politics then. Don’t ask me why. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481/24 "2012-07-10T03:44:58Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I thought it had more to just the dropping out, and not his craziness. He lost all his momentum and good will. He quit in the first place because things weren’t happening exactly the way he wanted them to. He didn’t like not being in absolute charge of the press he got, he didn’t like not being in absolute charge of the state organizations that were trying to get him on the ballots, he didn’t like not being in absolute charge of absolutely everything all the time. ---
**Author:** ![greenslime1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@greenslime1951](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenslime1951)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481/25 "2012-07-10T04:22:54Z")
Surely you underestimate the American people. Fully 1% of the electorate will focus on the candidates’ relative fitness to lead and the strength and efficacy of their visions for America. Only a mere 99% will make their decisions based on the relative charisma of the candidates and the very last ten-second sound bite that they see before they go to the polls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-personality-determine-the-presidential-outcome/626481.md?page=1)