Comfortable-feeling candidates are rarely the most effective leaders

Evidence

We may vote for the candidate who feels most “comfortable” or congruent to us, who fits our dimly perceived hierarchies of motives and goals. At best, though, such leader appeal has little to do with leader effectiveness. And often enough the “uncomfortable” leader, discrepant in motive from the larger society of the times, turns out to be regarded as the great leader. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1368

Categorization

• CANDY: A compact, provocative line worth repeating: voters reward comfort while history rewards the uncomfortable leader.