Ethics versus success? the acceptance of unethical leadership in the 2016 US Presidential elections

Before and after the 2016 US Presidential Election, this research examined Trump and Clinton supporters’ attributions about behavior of each leader, both of whose ethicality had been publicly questioned. American voters (N = 268) attributed significantly more dispositional factors to the outgroup le...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Morais, Catarina (author)
Other Authors: Abrams, Dominic (author), Moura, Georgina Randsley de (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/29618
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorio.ucp.pt:10400.14/29618
Description
Summary:Before and after the 2016 US Presidential Election, this research examined Trump and Clinton supporters’ attributions about behavior of each leader, both of whose ethicality had been publicly questioned. American voters (N = 268) attributed significantly more dispositional factors to the outgroup leader than to the ingroup leader. Moreover, when the ingroup candidate won the election (i.e., among Trump supporters), unethical leadership subsequently became more acceptable and there was less desire to tighten the election process when dealing with unethical candidates. The opposite pattern was found among voters whose ingroup candidate lost the election (Clinton supporters). The results and implications are discussed