When a Male Politician Cheats, Voters Look to His Wife’s Reaction

When a male politician cheats on his wife, it can, naturally, be disastrous for his reputation among voters. But one thing that might make it even worse? Her leaving him.

In a study published earlier this year and involving 1,401 adults, researchers presented participants with a fictional male political candidate who had engaged in an affair with a legislative assistant and initially lied about it.

Unsurprisingly, support for the candidate plunged. But when participants learned that the politician’s wife had left him as a result of his infidelity, they punished him even more severely than if she had stayed.

These findings suggest that a spouse’s reaction may act as an additional social signal. If the person closest to the politician decides the betrayal is serious enough to end the marriage, voters take notice.

There was another twist: Participants were more inclined to punish politicians from their own political party, especially when the spouse left — contrary to the researchers’ expectation that partisan loyalty would encourage voters to excuse bad behavior. Apparently, when it comes to infidelity, party loyalty only goes so far.