How Important Is Personality?

In his convention speech last night, Obama said that he was ready to show that his “temperament” is better-suited for the presidency than John McCain’s. Obama’s comments beg the question: how much does personality matter?

This may seem a ridiculous question, but in this election, it’s become an important one, given the stark contrast between Obama’s supposed aloofness and McCain’s prickliness. More than any other presidential contest in recent memory, this year’s candidates represent not just different platforms, or even political style, but also significantly different dispositions.

So how much doe these nuts and bolts of personality matter to the presidency, and how do the candidates stack up? The 2004 book Personality, Character, and Leadership in the White House considers the most important dimensions of the presidential psyche to be:

Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability-Nixon and LBJ were anxious and volatile. FDR and Reagan were “relaxed, secure, well-balanced, and able to see to the heart of problems.”

Extraversion-“warmth, gregariousness…and a tendency to experience positive emotions.” Extraverts included Teddy Roosevelt and Clinton; introverts Coolidge and Hoover.