Tories are more attractive than socialists, claims study

Good looking people are more likely to breeze through life which makes them less empathetic to other people's struggles, the researchers claim

Tory MP Priti Patel (Getty Images)

Bad news for Corbynistas: Tories are more likely to be attractive than socialists, a study has concluded.

However this isn’t because holding conservative views makes you better looking, it’s that already attractive people are more likely to become right wing.

“We find that more attractive individuals are more likely to report higher levels of political efficacy, identify as conservative, and identify as Republican,” say the authors of the study, by Susquehanna and Illinois State Universities.

The main reason suggested by the researchers is that more attractive people tend to cruise through life more easily than their less good looking counterparts, and this leads to less of an ability to understand other people’s problems.

Previous studies have found that good looking people are treated better by others, are happier and tend to reach higher positions.

Being less empathetic to the struggles of others, attractive people tend to be less keen on redistributive taxation and more likely to hold right-wing views.

“Attractive children have been shown to experience warmer treatment from their parents as well as strangers,” study co-author Rolfe D. Peterson writes in the journal Politics and the Life Sciences.

“Over a lifespan, these patterns of treatment appear to have a pronounced effect on the personality traits more attractive individuals exhibit, appearing to be more confident, extroverted, happier and healthier as they reach adulthood.”

“Having not faced the challenges of other citizens, more attractive individuals should be less supportive of remedying these challenges for the public.”

Conservative Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson

To reach these conclusions, Peterson and co-author Carl L. Palmer analysed the results of two previous studies in which participants had been asked about the political views and separately rated on the attractiveness.

They used data from the 1972, 1974 and 1976 American National Studies and then compared the results with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) - a long-term study of a random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 - which rated the level of attractiveness and assessed the traits of participants.

The study found that better looking people tend to have a “blind spot” which leads them to more Tory views.

“Even though this blind spot may not be universally held and physically attractive individuals do not always have easier lives, on average, physically attractive individuals face fewer hurdles navigating the social world,” the researchers say.

However Peterson accepts that there are limitations to the study - attractiveness is subjective, for one - and points out that it can’t be said that attractiveness determines political views.

But this isn’t the first study to suggest a link between good looks and conservatism - and vice versa.

Tory MP Zac Goldsmith (Getty Images)

Last year, a study by Brunel University concluded that physically weak men are more likely to be socialists.

And another study by the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Sweden concluded that Conservative politicians are physically more appealing than their left-wing counterparts.

“Politicians on the right look more beautiful in Europe, the United States and Australia,” researchers said. “Our explanation is that beautiful people earn more, which makes them less inclined to support redistribution.”

Former Labour Leader Ed Miliband (Getty Images)

However there are exceptions to the rule: Che Guevara has long been considered a sex symbol and let’s not forget the Milifandom of 2015, which surely proves the left has its own allure too.