A new study found that after male college students were asked to write about Sarah Palin's physical attributes, they judged her as less professionally competent than those asked to simply write about Palin as a "person." If the subjects were swing voters or Republicans, thinking about Palin's appearance actually seemed to decrease their likelihood of voting for the GOP ticket. At Jezebel, Megan has a good write-up of the study's significance. I'd only add this: Palin's inability to string a coherent sentence together on public policy was clearly a gigantic factor in people's unwillingness to support her, and obviously contributed to her media reception as "Caribou Barbie," a gun-toting Alaskan frontier sex symbol. Indeed, the McCain campaign intended her to be viewed that way. I'd be curious too see this study replicated using a female politician whose image isn't already so relentlessly sexual. Would thinking about Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi's physicality similarly bias men against them -- reducing their professional accomplishments -- or would it have much less of an effect? --Dana Goldstein
