Closer to the People: A Survey Experiment on the Impact of Political Candidates' Socioeconomic Background on Citizens' Evaluation and Trust of These Politicians

This study investigates the perceived symbolic representation of political candidates, namely to what extent respondents perceive individual politicians as representing citizens’ interests, accessible and trustworthy. To this end, a factorial survey experiment was conducted in Germany, in which 1,107 respondents were presented with five hypothetical political candidates, differing in their social and political profiles. This study investigates the perceived symbolic representation of political candidates, namely to what extent respondents perceive individual politicians as representing citizens’ interests, accessible and trustworthy. To this end, a factorial survey experiment was conducted in Germany, in which 1,107 respondents were presented with five hypothetical political candidates, differing in their social and political profiles.