The Personality Divide Between Citizens and Politicians: The Case of the Four Largest Spanish Parties

Despite the alleged increasing importance given to politicians’ personalities, the similarities and differences between citizens and politicians regarding their personality traits have been insufficiently studied. This research analyses the personality similarities and differences between citizens and politicians in Spain across party allegiances and ideologies. For this, we use two representative surveys for citizens and MPs. Our results show that Spanish politicians are a more homogeneous population—regarding their personality traits—than Spanish citizens, and that Spanish MPs are more sociable and imaginative and less lazy and artistic than the average citizen, which is consistent with a ‘politician’s personality’.