Electorally successful presidents fit their era’s motives while historically great presidents contradict them

Evidence

Winter’s analysis suggests that when leadership success is defined in terms of electoral outcomes, the most successful presidents are those whose personal motives fit with the motives that are most prevalent and contemporary in society. However, when success is defined in terms of “presidential greatness” as judged by historical experts in retrospect, success is largely a function of the personal characteristics of the president and the degree of incongruence between the president and the society around him! — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 404

Categorization

• QUESTION: The incongruence-superiority finding for ‘greatness’ is counterintuitive — worth chasing whether this replicates across other political systems.
• XREF: Connects to leader-follower fit theories in political science and to biography literature on outsider presidents. — connects to: Discrepant presidents historically outperform congruent ones — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 1362