Is There Personalization in Politics? Candidates and Voting Behavior in Germany

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Abstract
In analyzing the democratic political process, political leader ship is important. One element of leadership is the role politicians play in shaping public perceptions of politics. A particular concern in this respect is that television with emphasis on the individual may in the long run depoliticize politics in the eyes of citizens and the political process itself. Another aspect of leadership is the extent to which candidates for, and holders of, high political office influence voters' electoral choices. Data from a large content-analysis of the 1990 German general election as well as survey data from a series of German election studies are used to test the extent to which various measures of personalization display the expected rise in importance. All findings support the notion that, at least in Germany, personalization cannot be observed. This result emphasizes the role of the institutional make-up of a given political system by stress ing the difference between presidential and parliamentary states.