Depression, Populism, and Presidential Approval

Is there a relationship between depression and political evaluations? Building on existing work, we argue that experiencing depressive symptoms will positively correlate with supporting a populist politician and negatively correlate with supporting a nonpopulist officeholder. We evaluate these predictions with data from the United States, focusing on Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Our data are consistent with our hypotheses, and, as expected, we find particularly strong relationships for Democratic respondents. The results highlight the importance of considering mental health when studying the approval of politicians both in and out of office. We conclude with a discussion of next steps for a research agenda on depression and political evaluations.