AMERICAN SENTIMENTS ON PERCIEVED BEHAVIORAL & COGNITIVE QUALIFICIATIONS WITHIN PUBLIC OFFICIALS

With the increasing polarization of dialogue in the American political atmosphere, public sentiment has progressively become indispensable to U.S. governmental affairs; bearing heightened importance for continued interdisciplinary study in Psychology & Political Science. With the rise in political engagement, there have been growing concerns about the behavioral and cognitive qualifications of government officials, especially officials who are elected to hold public office. This research examines Americans' attitudes toward the likeliness of public officials' conduct to be a factor in vote choice. Correspondingly, by expanding the umbrella of Political Psychology to explore perceptions of the behavioral sciences - this study also examines Americans' viewpoint for the disqualification of public officials due to cognitive decline.