will men vote for Sarah Palin only because she is hot?

A new study out today from Northwestern University found that looks matter,
especially for female candidates.
So maybe John McCain made a good decision in picking Sarah Palin?

Most shocking was the strong language used to describe why men vote for women candidates.
"While gender bias related to a female candidate's attractiveness was consistent
across both male and female voters, good looks was almost all that mattered
in predicting men's votes for female candidates,"
according to the release announcing the study.


In the study, participants were shown pictures of congressional candidates
and asked to judge their competence, attractiveness, dominance, and approachability.
Aside from attractiveness, these categories are important for leadership and men seem to have won.
"Overall, voters perceived the faces of male politicians as more competent and dominant
relative to female politicians; female politicians were perceived as more attractive
and approachable relative to males,"
the release says.

One of the researchers, Joan Y. Chiao says in the release
that "lingering cultural stereotypes" likely drive this perceived competence gap.