From Big Ben to the breakfast table : basic values and political attitudes among politicians and the public

Representative democracy relies on those willing and able to put themselves forward for political office. Equally, elections involve a drastic transfer of democratic power from the many to the few, deciding ‘who’ has that power, but not necessarily ‘what’ is done with it. The latter may well depend on the personal predispositions and desires of those who seek a political career. Existing research suggests that political aspirants are not only a tiny minority of the population, but also distinct in their personality characteristics by comparison to those they govern or seek to govern. Reviewing and building upon this literature, this chapter draws on original data from political elites and members of the UK public to understand how the unique psychologies of politicians might also precipitate and explain differences and similarities between their political opinions and those of citizens. This chapter finds (a) personality predispositions represented as basic values share meaningful relationships with political attitudes, (b) politicians and candidates differ from the public in their basic values, (c) basic values have a stronger effect upon political attitudes among elites than masses, but (d) the explanatory potential of a predisposition model is improved by accounting for partisan conflict and socio-demographic factors.