Dark Tetrad traits perceived in American presidential candidates of 2020 and their impact on potential voters' willingness to vote.

Survey data were collected just before the American presidential elections of 2020. The sample consisted of 456 Americans aged at least 18 across states.<br><br>To measure the dark traits observed in presidential candidates from a distance, we utilized an altered version of the 28-item Short Dark Tetrad scale (Paulhus et al., 2020). Originally, the scale comprised seven statements for each component: Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism. It should be noted that in the latest version of the scale (Paulhus et al., 2020), the authors proposed new terms: Crafty for Machiavellianism, Special for narcissism, Wild for psychopathy, and Mean for everyday sadism. The corresponding variables are: SD4_DT1 to SD4_DT28 for Donald Trump, and SD4_JB1 to SD4_JB28 for Joe Biden. Each participant in the study evaluated each presidential candidate, so the design involves repeated measures.<br><br>Participants in the study were also asked to evaluate their willingness to vote for the two presidential candidates twice. For example, they were asked, "If there had been an election today, how much would you be willing to vote for Joe Biden?" The question was presented in a Likert scale format ranging from one (extremely unlikely) to seven (extremely likely), with a midpoint of 4 (neither likely nor unlikely). The corresponding variables are: voting_JB, voting_DT.<br><br>Additionally, typical sociodemographic variables were collected (e.g., age, education, locality, standard of living), as well as political orientation and additional measures related to sociopolitical attitudes.