When politicians try to talk like 'regular people' to sound cool, everyone—even their own voters—thinks they look less competent and less trustworthy.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
Speaking like ordinary people, representing ordinary people? Language styles, populist attitudes, and voters’ evaluations of political candidates
SocArXiv · s2b4y_v1
The Takeaway
Campaign consultants often urge candidates to 'talk folksy' to build a connection with the working class. However, this study across the US shows it backfires: voters across all education levels and political leanings generally prefer their leaders to sound professional rather than colloquial.
From the abstract
This article examines the influence of political candidates’ language styles on voter evaluations. Drawing on two preregistered survey experiments conducted with nationally representative samples of the U.S. population, I explore how the use of an informal style, often associated with populist communication, affects voter perceptions across both non-populist and populist speeches. I also investigate whether an informal style facilitates connections with specific segments of the electorate, such