Americans haven't elected a bald candidate to the White House in 58 years, when President Dwight Eisenhower won a second term over Adlai Stevenson (who didn't have much hair either). And more often than not, voters will pick the more attractive candidate over his rival. And it likely worked in Barack Obama's favor in 2008 that his opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was 25 years older.
"Presidents and CEOs tend to present themselves in a particular way. They are taller than average, and they tend to have particular features that suggest authority and virility," says Jennifer Gaboury, a political scientist at Hunter College in New York. "So a full head of hair, being clean-shaven, and being tall in this current period suggests a kind of manly command."
Even going totally bald is better than a balding head when it comes to first impressions, said Elle Medico, a men's hair stylist in New York.
"The problem is the way our society views a balding man verses a bald man," Medico said. "Someone who is balding more than 50 percent of their total hair can look desperate. ... It's clear to everyone else that they're trying to hide their ever-growing baldness, which shows some form of vanity and fear of change. Or worse -- like the person is trying to hide something, and disconnected from reality."
Looking good appeals to voters' survival instincts, argued a 2013 study published in Psychological Science. Researchers Andrew Edward White and Douglas T. Kenrick found voters are attracted to features associated with beauty - smooth skin, shiny hair, body and facial symmetry - because such traits are actually indicators of good health.
Marco Rubio 2016: Could Baldness Hurt Presidential Campaign?
"Presidents and CEOs tend to present themselves in a particular way. They are taller than average, and they tend to have particular features that suggest authority and virility," says Jennifer Gaboury, a political scientist at Hunter College in New York. "So a full head of hair, being clean-shaven, and being tall in this current period suggests a kind of manly command."
Even going totally bald is better than a balding head when it comes to first impressions, said Elle Medico, a men's hair stylist in New York.
"The problem is the way our society views a balding man verses a bald man," Medico said. "Someone who is balding more than 50 percent of their total hair can look desperate. ... It's clear to everyone else that they're trying to hide their ever-growing baldness, which shows some form of vanity and fear of change. Or worse -- like the person is trying to hide something, and disconnected from reality."
Looking good appeals to voters' survival instincts, argued a 2013 study published in Psychological Science. Researchers Andrew Edward White and Douglas T. Kenrick found voters are attracted to features associated with beauty - smooth skin, shiny hair, body and facial symmetry - because such traits are actually indicators of good health.
Marco Rubio 2016: Could Baldness Hurt Presidential Campaign?
