Attractive Politicians Engage Less with Parliamentary Activities

At the same time, attractive politicians use media appearances and other activities outside parliament to strengthen their popularity and networks, which can also benefit their parties. “Attractive people often enjoy advantages in life, and the same is true in politics,” Wochner says. Politicians who achieve the highest scores on the beauty scale used for the study are 35% more likely to be absent from parliament; they earn EUR 40,000 more from other activities; and they are 50% more likely to appear on a talk show. These results show that economic considerations such as self-interest and the pursuit of popularity can have an effect on parliamentary activity. It should be noted that this study does not permit any conclusions to be drawn about the quality of parliamentary work.

The study is based on data from the German Bundestag’s 17th and 18th legislative periods (2009–2017). It examined attendance at roll-call votes in plenary sessions, parliamentary activities such as speeches and parliamentary questions, other activities outside parliament, and appearances on talk shows and in newspapers. The attractiveness of the members of parliament was rated on a scale of 1 to 10 using standardized portraits in a survey of 372 US citizens.