選民們都比較愿意給那些他們認為比較有自尊心的男政黨候選人投票——這項發現也許能幫助說明候任總統·奧巴馬選舉獲勝的原因。
　　 2007年秋，維吉爾·齊格勒·希爾和艾琳·邁爾斯讓209名在校大學生評估8個民主黨總統候選人（包括希拉里·克林頓和巴拉克·奧巴馬）和10個共和黨總統候選人（包括約翰·麥凱恩和羅姆尼）各自的自尊程度，并說出他們對每個候選人投票的意愿程度。
　　 正如你所想的那樣，學生們各自的政黨隸屬關系對他們的投票意愿有關鍵性的影響。然而，除了黨派性的影響之外，那些參與者通常都傾向于說他們會愿意給那些他們覺得比較有自尊心的候選人投票。
　　 支持民主黨的女學生們是個例外：她們說不太愿意給那些她們覺得比較有自尊心的共和黨男候選人投票，并說她們不愿意給克林頓投票，不管她們覺得她的自尊程度如何。
　　 第二個研究和第一個類似，只是這次293個在校大學生拿到的是每個候選人不真實的自尊程度數值，這些數值表面上看來是由分析候選人們的演講而得出來的。然而，這次還是有例外：男民主黨人比較愿意投票給克林頓，如果她的自尊程度數值比較低的話；而參與者中的女共和黨人則不太愿意投票給克林頓，如果她的自尊程度數值比較高的話。
　　總的來說，這些發現都與齊格勒•希爾關于自尊的完全理論相一致，該理論指出：我們（可能是下意識地）傾向于設想比較有自尊心的人會同時具有其它積極的個性。這個理論填補了“社會關系測量學模式”的空白，該模式聲稱：自尊已逐漸成為人們社會地位的標識。有點可預知地，在最近的多個研究中，奧巴馬的自尊程度在所有的候選人中位居榜首。這跟他在總統競選中所表現出來的極大自尊并勇于承認自己的弱點的舉動相一致。
　　“奧巴馬有把他對自身價值的感覺傳達給別人的能力，也許是這種能力幫助他規劃出了讓選民們如此信服的富有能力與自尊心的形象。齊格勒•希爾告訴《讀者文摘》，“在我看來，選民們傾向于認為奧巴馬是一個非常自尊的人，這種傾向在他的獲勝中多多少少起到了一定的作用。他那表達自尊的非凡能力對在政治舞臺上相對年輕和經驗有限的他來說尤其重要。”
但在研究中有些參與者認為希拉里·克林頓如果比較自尊的話就不投票給她，這個發現說明了什么問題呢？女候選人應表現得不那么自尊嗎？“女候選人經常處于矛盾的要求中。”齊格勒•希爾說，“如果她們表現得非常自尊，選民會認為她們太具侵略性或剛愎自用而不看好她們。而如果她們表現得不那么自尊，選民們會認為她們的能力不及她們的男競選者。我可以比較樂觀地說這種對女候選人的矛盾要求在將來會有所減少，因為到那時選民們會更容易接受處于選舉位置上的女從政者。”
　　Voters are more willing to vote for male political candidates whom they perceive to have high self-esteem - a finding which could help explain President Elect Barack Obama's electoral success.
　　In Autumn 2007, Virgil Zeigler-Hill and Erin Myers asked 209 undergraduates to rate the self-esteem of the eight potential democratic candidates for president (including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) and the ten republican candidates (including John McCain and Mitt Romney), and to also indicate their willingness to vote for each of them.
　　As you'd expect, the students' own political affiliations played a key role in their willingness to vote. Beyond this partisan influence, however, the participants were generally more inclined to say they'd be willing to vote for those candidates whom they perceived to have higher self esteem.
　　The exceptions were female republican students: they said they'd be less willing to vote for those democratic male candidates whom they perceived to have high self esteem, and they also said they were unwilling to vote for Clinton regardless of how they perceived her self-esteem.
　　A second study was similar to the first except that 293 undergrads were given fake self-esteem data for each of the candidates, ostensibly derived from analyses of speeches they'd given. Participants were generally more willing to vote for candidates who'd been allocated high self-esteem ratings. Again, however, there were exceptions: male democrats were actually more willing to vote for Clinton if she was given a low self-esteem rating, while female republican participants were less willing to vote for her if she was given a high self-esteem rating.
　　Overall, the findings are consistent with Zeigler-Hill's implicit theory of self-esteem, which states that we (perhaps subconsciously) assume that people with high self-esteem also have other positive traits. The theory complements the "sociometer model" that purports self-esteem has evolved as a marker for people's social status.
　　Somewhat presciently, in the first of the current studies, Obama was actually rated as having the highest self-esteem of all the candidates, a fact that chimes with his performance during the presidential campaign during which he conveyed immense self-belief, whilst also acknowledging his weaknesses.
　　"Obama’s ability to convey his feelings of self-worth to others may have helped him project the image of competence and confidence that voters found so compelling," Zeigler Hill told the Digest. "In my opinion, the tendency for voters to perceive Obama as someone with high self-esteem may have played at least some limited role in his success. His ability to portray confidence may have been especially important for him because of his relative youth and limited experience on the national stage."
　　But what about the findings suggesting participants were less willing to vote for Hillary Clinton if she was perceived as having high self-esteem? Should female candidates play down their self-esteem? "Female candidates are often caught between conflicting demands," Zeigler-Hill said. "If they are portrayed as having high self-esteem, they may be disliked because they are considered aggressive or domineering. However, if they appear to have low self-esteem, female candidates may be viewed as less competent than their male counterparts. I am optimistic that these conflicting demands for female candidates will be reduced to some degree in the future as voters become more comfortable with women in elected positions."