American voters have a lot to think about when we go to the polls. Who is most likely to win? Who has the most support? Who has the experience to really lead the country?
Lots to think about. And a lot of different viewpoints.
But when it comes to a certain set of leadership qualities, it seems that only one of the current Presidential candidates really makes the grade.
The Washington Post reported on a recent survey of voters’ views about key leadership qualities. The poll, done by Gallup, included 12 personal qualities that are considered most important for leaders in both business and politics. The 4 most important attributes included the ability to inspire, to be a visionary, to be courageous and to care about individuals.
The results are somewhat surprising when we consider that most pundits are reporting that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are almost assured of being the nominees of their respective parties.
They’re surprising because the results show that the candidate who most voters feel exhibits those important characteristics is none other than the Social Democrat Bernie Sanders.
When Gallup compiled the responses for those 4 key characteristic, the results were pretty clear.When they averaged the percentage of people who gave each candidate a high score of “4 or 5” on these 4 attributes, Bernie Sanders blew away the competition. He scored 54 percent on the key leadership qualities. Trump and Clinton tied at 29 percent, and Cruz came in last with only a 25 percent average.
It will be hard to predict how those scores might translate into votes, according to the article. There are many other factors that play into the candidates’ standings in their respective races.
Still, it’s pretty interesting to think about the fact that most voters seem to see Bernie Sanders as the candidate with the strongest leadership skills, yet he is still laboring under the assumption that he is unelectable.
I wonder what might change if the Sanders campaign tried to make use of this information?
Featured image by Phil Roeder via Flickr. Available through a Creative Commons License 2.0.
