Personality traits of voters & leaders
Nai, A., van Erkel, P. A. F., & Bos, L. (2025). Turning up and down the partisan heat. Voters’ psychological profile and changes in negative radical partisanship over the course of an election. Electoral Studies, 95, 102926.
Aaldering, L., Ferreira da Silva, Garzia, D., Gattermann, K., & Nai, A. (2025). Leader effects in an era of negative politics: who has a negativity bias? Politics & Governance, 13, 9187.
Nai, A., Ferreira da Silva, F., Aaldering, L., Gattermann, K., & Garzia, D. (2025). Ripping the Public Apart? Politicians’ Dark Personality and Affective Polarization. European Journal of Political Research. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.70002
Stier, S., Oschatz, C., Clemm von Hohenberg, B., Maier, J., Nai., A., & Kirkizh, N. (2025). When Do Candidates “Go Negative”? A Conjoint Analysis to Unpack the Mechanisms of Negative Campaigning. Electoral Studies. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2024.102894
Nai, A., van Erkel, P. A. F., & Bos, L. (2024). Violence against politicians drives support for political violence among (some) voters. Evidence from a natural experiment. Public Opinion Quarterly (forthcoming).
Nai, A., & Young, E. L. (2024). They Choose Violence. Dark Personality Traits Drive Support for Politically Motivated Violence in Five Democracies. Personality and Individual Differences, 230, 112794.
Vargiu, C., Nai, A., & Valli, C. (2024). Uncivil Yet Persuasive? Testing the Persuasiveness of Political Incivility and the Moderating Role of Populist Attitudes and Personality Traits. Political Psychology. doi: 10.1111/pops.12969
Vargiu, C., Nai, A., & Garzia, D. (2024). Incivility Does Not Exist: An Experimental Assessment on the Drivers of Incivility Perceptions and their Effects on Candidate Evaluations. The Journal of Politics (in-principle acceptance of stage-1 registered report).
Nai, A., Aaldering, L., Ferreira da Silva, F., Garzia, D., & Gattermann, K. (2023). The Dark Side of the Mood. Candidate Evaluation, Voter Perceptions, and the Driving Role of (Dark) Personality Traits. Electoral Studies, 86, 102715.
Valli, C., & Nai, A. (2023). Dispositioned to resist? The Big Five and resistance to dissonant political views. Personality and Individual Differences. 207, 112152.
Nai, A., Schemeil, Y., & Valli, C. (2023). A Persuadable Type? Personality Traits, Dissonant Information, and Political Persuasion. International Journal of Communication. 17, 1061-1082.
Tatum, A., & Nai, A. (2022). Entitled and self-conscious? The ego-centric underpinnings of electoral preferences during the 2020 U.S. election. Research & Politics. doi: 10.1177/20531680221145554
Medeiros, M., Nai, A., Erman, A, & Young, E. (2022). Personality traits of world leaders and differential policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Science & Medicine. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115358
Valli, C., & Nai, A. (2022). Let Me Think About It: Cognitive Elaboration and Strategies of Resistance to Political Persuasion. Media Psychology. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2022.2098774
Nai, A., Tresch, A., & Maier, J. (2022). Tailored negativity. Campaign consultants, candidates’ personality, and attack politics in the 2019 Swiss election. Swiss Political Science Review. doi: 10.1111/spsr.12525
Nai. A. (2022). Populist voters like dark politicians. Personality and Individual Differences. 187, 111412.
Nai, A., Tresch, A., & Maier, J. (2022). Hardwired to attack. Candidates’ personality traits and negative campaigning in three European countries. Acta Politica. doi: 10.1057/s41269-021-00222-7
Maier, J., & Nai, A. (2021). Mapping the drivers of negative campaigning. Insights from a candidate survey. International Political Science Review. doi: 10.1177/0192512121994512
Nai, A., Maier, J., & Vranic, J. (2021). Personality goes a long way (for some). An experimental investigation into candidate personality traits, voters’ profile, and perceived likeability. Frontiers in Political Science. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2021.636745
Nai, A., & Maier, J. (2020). Teflon Trump? Shifting public perceptions of Donald Trump’s personality traits across four studies over eighteen months. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. doi: 10.1093/ijpor/edaa030
Nai, A., & Maier, J. (2020). Dark necessities? Candidates’ aversive personality traits and negative campaigning in the 2018 American Midterms. Electoral Studies. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2020.102233
Nai, A., & Maier, J. (2020). Is negative campaigning a matter of taste? Political attacks, incivility, and the moderating role of individual differences. American Politics Research. doi: 10.1177/1532673X20965548
Nai, A., & Otto, L. (2020). When they go low, we gloat. How trait and state Schadenfreude moderate the perception and effect of negative political messages. Journal of Media Psychology. doi: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000283
Nai, A., & Toros, E. (2020). The peculiar personality of strongmen: Big Five and Dark Triad traits of political leaders worldwide. Political Research Exchange, 2(1): 1-24.
Nai, A. (2019). The electoral success of angels and demons. Big Five, Dark Triad, and Performance at the Ballot Box. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(2), 830–862.
Nai, A., & Maier, J. (2019). Can anyone be objective about Donald Trump? Assessing the personality of political figures. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties. doi: 10.1080/17457289.2019.1632318
Nai, A., & Martinez i Coma, F. (2019). The personality of populists: Provocateurs, charismatic leaders, or drunken dinner guests? West European Politics, 42(7), 1337-1367.
Nai, A., Martinez i Coma, F., and Maier, J. (2018). Donald Trump, populism, and the age of extremes: Comparing the personality traits and campaigning style of Trump and other leaders worldwide. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 49(3), 609–643.
* recipient of the Top Cited Paper Award 2019-2020
* recipient of the Wiley Top Downloaded Paper Award 2018-2019
Nai, A. (2018). Disagreeable narcissists, extroverted psychopaths, and elections: A new dataset to measure the personality of candidates worldwide. European Political Science, 18(2), 309–334.