The Likable Winner versus the Competent Loser: Candidate Images and the German Election of 2002

Abstract

Although the German constitution does not provide for the direct election of the head of the executive branch by the people, the preeminent position of the federal chancellor has long tempted commentators to describe the German political system as a “chancellor democracy.”1 Based on this characterization, one might be tempted to assume that the German election of 2002 was therefore about electing a chancellor. To be sure, if voters could have voted for the chancellor directly in 2002, Gerhard Schröder would have easily defeated Edmund Stoiber. Yet, despite public opinion polls that never once showed the challenger outpolling the chancellor throughout the entire election year, the election turned out to be a cliffhanger.