Abstract

NAVIA, Patricio  and  RIVERA, Sebastián. Personalization of Politics, Personal Traits and Presidential Approval: The Case of Chile, 2008-2016. Polít. gob [online]. 2019, vol.26, n.1, pp.65-91.  Epub June 26, 2020. ISSN 1665-2037.

With the growing personalization of politics, public opinion might assess government performance partially based on the leaders' traits. We test if the evaluation Chileans made of personal traits of presidents Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010, 2014-2018) and Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014) explains presidential approval. As the highest ranked personal traits of both presidents are different, to assess their effect on presidential approval we use two strategies. We first use a time-series analysis using the monthly Adimark presidential approval poll. Then, we use a cross-sectional analysis with data from the annual Universidad Diego Portales surveys. The evaluation people make of presidents' personal traits is a good predictor of presidential approval.

Keywords : presidential approval; personalization of politics; personal traits; public opinion; Chile.

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