A brand new survey indicated that Dr. Ben Carson is nearly tied with Donald Trump amongst Republican primary and caucus voters. Interestingly, Carson – who’s slim Door knocker – is the one presidential candidate with facial hair. And if elected, he can be the primary president with facial hair since William H. Taft, who took office over 100 years ago sporting a thick mustache.
Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon from Detroit, is understood for his polarizing political rhetoric. But despite the fact that beards are trendy amongst the final population, our research shows that bucking the present trend of clean-shaven politicians could ultimately at the very least hurt their possibilities on the polls amongst some voters.
That was not at all times so.
Before the 1850s, most American men and politicians were clean-shaven, but in the course of the Crimean War the beard became popular in each America and Europe when soldiers grew facial hair to maintain warm. Various popular public figures—Civil War General Ambrose E. Burnside, President Lincoln, naturalist John Muir, and poet Walt Whitman—all sported facial hair.
Then, in 1901, the primary safety razor with disposable blades was invented, and razors were soon low-cost and widely available.
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Later concerns about hygiene and the bacteria related to beards led to a decline in the recognition of facial hair, as did the widespread use of gas masks during World War I (facial hair could interfere with the mask's proper function).
The popularity of facial hair amongst Americans has fluctuated since Taft. But why wasn't there one other bearded president?
For one thing, quite a lot of world leaders had beards or mustaches – including some outstanding enemies. There are even rumors that Thomas Dewey lost the presidency to Harry Truman because he wouldn't shave his mustache. (Dewey's mustachioed contemporaries in 1944 included Adolf Hitler, in addition to Japan's Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo – not exactly the perfect company to maintain.)
Meanwhile, many communist ideologues and leaders sported facial hair: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin. Fair or not, this helped shape America Settings toward facial hair within the years after World War II, when anti-communism was at its peak.
The rise of television within the mid-Twentieth century didn't help either. During the first televised presidential debateRichard Nixon's five o'clock shadow contributed to his sickly, frail appearance, to which television audiences reacted negatively.
Research could also provide clues. A study showed that men with facial hair are perceived as stronger aggressivewhile one other identified that there is perhaps beards reduce trustworthiness. There appears to be a long-standing concept that men with facial hair – more specifically, beards – are hiding something. For a politician, the negative effects are clear.
And now, our recent research notes that voters are likely to stereotype politicians with facial hair.
For our study, we used visual aid software to interview 441 subjects and show them photos of male members of the a hundred and tenth Congress, which met in 2007-2008.
Representatives with facial hair were matched with similar-looking members without facial hair. Concerted efforts were made to bring together members of comparable age, facial structure, hairstyles and party affiliation. We also rounded up members whose photos had similar backgrounds.
A gaggle of subjects first answered questions on the congresswoman's perceived level of masculinity. We then asked one other group of subjects to rate the members' positions on certain issues and answer whether or not they would vote for the candidate pictured. We then collected details about our subjects, including their personal characteristics and political opinions.
We found that members with facial hair were (unsurprisingly) perceived as more masculine. Politically, this may be each an excellent and a foul thing. For example, we found that members of Congress with facial hair are viewed as more competent, but they’re viewed as less supportive of feminist issues.
And while we expected masculinity to extend subjects' perceptions of using military force, members with facial hair were actually seen as less more likely to endorse using force. Some stereotypes about men with facial hair assume that they’re unconventional and more inclined to have facial hair jobs as if I were working as an artist. Additionally, facial hair is a standard stereotype related to the counterculture movement and environmentalists.
By examining Roll-call votes, we found no support to substantiate these perceptions of representatives with facial hair. Members with facial hair didn’t differ from other men of their support for girls's issues or of their support for using violence.
While our research found that candidates with facial hair weren’t significantly less electable than clean-shaven men, women and feminists were significantly less more likely to vote for them.
We found that 52% of men and 49% of ladies would vote for the candidate with facial hair – a 3% difference that might determine whether a candidate wins or loses an election.
Candidates with facial hair signal their masculinity to voters by deciding whether or to not shave. Candidates – especially those that must secure the support of female voters – should shave all facial hair.
Given the undeniable fact that Dr. Ben Carson blamed this partially Women's movement He would do well to lose the door knocker for the police shootings of African Americans. He needs every advantage he can get.
On the opposite hand, being perceived as less feminist and more masculine in the course of the Republican primaries could possibly be a bonus: the Republican Party is more interested in ideas of masculinity than the Democratic Party.
However, if Carson emerges victorious in the first, he might need to take some Barbasol with him into the final election.
image credit : theconversation.com