Predicting American presidential election outcomes based on candidates' power, affiliation and achievement motives

Three social motives, the need for power, achievement and affiliation, combine to form the configuration of the Leadership Motive Pattern (LMP) that has been shown to predict leadership effectiveness. It is hypothesized in this study that the motives will also predict electoral success. Twenty nomination acceptance speeches from the Democratic and Republican conventions from 1972 to 2008 were coded for need for power, achievement, affiliation and activity inhibition (i.e., concern with the moral exercise of power). Results revealed that power motivation was positively and significantly related to winning the general presidential elections, whereas achievement and affiliation motivation were positively but not significantly related to winning. Activity inhibition and the LMP variable (i.e., moderate to high need for power, need for power higher than need for affiliation and moderate to high activity inhibition) did not have an impact on presidential election outcomes. Several mechanisms explaining how the motives contribute to getting elected are proposed. Limitations of the study and future prospects are also discussed.Psy.DIncludes bibliographical referencesby Fatos Kusar