Picking a President

Lincoln Institute poll reveals qualities PA voters look for in a leader

In just a few days Americans will go the polls and elect a President. Even as we look to the future, we remain a nation that reveres its past and is proud of its history. Our founding fathers, and other great leaders, have been immortalized in many ways: from having their likenesses chiseled into the rock of Mt. Rushmore , to gracing the front of our currency, to the array of impressive monuments in and around the nation’s capitol.

Against that backdrop toil the leaders of today. The Lincoln Institute recently conducted a statewide poll on Leaders, Heroes, and Role Models seeking to find out who we look up to and why. From the poll results have emerged a portrait of the qualities and characteristics Keystone state voters will use in deciding which candidate they will support.

Honesty emerged as the big winner. Thirty-nine percent of those polled listed honesty as the single most important personal characteristic they would look for in a leader, while 21% said leaders need to have “integrity” and to exhibit “ethical” behavior. Those traits actually finished ahead of having a person possess traditional “leadership qualities,” which were cited by 6%.

Female voters in particular placed a premium on honesty. Forty-one percent of women said honesty is the most important characteristic in a leader. Thirty-six percent of male voters gave that as the most important leadership quality. Honesty was cited more frequently by respondents over the age of 60, 53% of whom placed honesty highest on their priority list. Conversely, honesty was cited by just 30% of those in the 30-44 age group.

The next most important quality was that a leader needed to be “confident” or “self assured,” while 4% said being “intelligent” or “smart” was the most important characteristic they would look for in a leader. Four percent said they would look for a person with strong morals as a leader. Having “vision” was cited by 3% and being a “risk taker” was the top quality listed by 1%.

By a two-to-one margin, Pennsylvanians said that today’s leaders do not live up to the standards set by great leaders of the past. Despite holding that view, poll respondents cited President George W. Bush (25%) and former President Bill Clinton (10%) most often when asked to name a current great leader. Secretary of State Colin Powell was cited by 4% of those polled, while U.S. Senator and Democrat Presidential nominee John F. Kerry polled 3%. Pope John Paul, II and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani were mentioned by 2% of the respondents.

The seeming contradiction of those polled in listing President Bush and former President Bill Clinton as “great leaders,” while saying our leaders today do not measure up to great leaders of the past was addressed by a Public Opinion Court focus group session held in conjunction with the poll. The group observed that those we look back upon as having been great leaders were often widely criticized and divisive figures in their own time. Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Ronald Reagan were cited as examples. And so it may be that only the perspective of history will be able to produce a final judgment on the abilities of today’s leaders.

The Leaders, Heroes, and Role Models poll was conducted for the Lincoln Institute by Susquehanna Polling and Research of Harrisburg, PA September 16, 2004 through September 19, 2004 . A total of 750 registered voters from throughout the state were surveyed.