Desired personality traits in politicians: Similar to me but more of a leader

•Provides insights into citizens’ personality trait preferences for politicians.•Ideal politician is more stable, extravert, conscientious, open, honest than voter.•Citizens seek personality similarity in basic value-related traits.•Personality similarity is mediated by core ideological views.•Similarity may ensure affective closeness and ideological representation. What makes voters prefer a certain type of politician? First, we argue that voters’ trait preferences follow a “desired leadership” principle. We show that citizens want the ideal-type politician to be more emotionally stable, extravert-assertive, more deliberate-conscientious and open, more honest, but also somewhat more disagreeable than the average citizen. Second, we argue that voters prefer a model candidate with similar basic value-related personality traits. Importantly, we show that trait congruence is partly mediated by core ideological preferences and thus ensures democratic representation. The study’s findings have implications for personalization of politics and democratic representation, because personality traits can be vital cues for voters deciding whether candidates will act in their interest and represent them well.