Populist Words Speak Louder? Ideology-Inconsistent Personalization and Voting for Populist Candidates

The private background of populist politicians oftentimes seemingly contradicts the populist ideology—which can be taken up in political communication. Using two experiments (nStudy 1 = 734; nStudy 2 = 568), we investigate the effects of such ideology-inconsistent personalization on the evaluation of and voting for a populist candidate. We manipulate the politician’s localness and social class (Study 1) and traditionalism in family life (Study 2). Results reveal a number of effects on candidate evaluation which translated into voting intentions. An upper-class background of the populist politician yielded negative effects, but less so among populist voters. However, references to a cosmopolitan biography decreased perceived trustworthiness among all participants. Surprisingly, a nontraditional (i.e., homosexual) relationship was beneficial for a (female) populist.