Personality and politics

• Openness was associated with political liberalism.
• Conscientiousness was associated with political conservatism.
• Machiavellianism was associated with low rates of political liberalism.
• Psychopathy, narcissism, and honesty were associated with conservatism.

This study examined the relationship between personality traits and political attitudes in a study of college-students (N = 1389) and an MTurk sample (N = 281) from America. The association between openness and political liberalism was replicated using two different measures of openness. Narcissism, extraversion, psychopathy, contentiousness, and honesty were associated with political conservatism. Machiavellianism was associated with low rates of political liberalism. This study has the potential to inform the conversation about the utility of personality traits to understand political attitudes.