Republican Identification Predicts Hierarchy-Focused Smile Interpretations, Survey Shows

Using an online questionnaire administered days before the 2024 presidential election, researchers surveyed 1,385 U.S. adults. Participants rated 15 possible smile motives on a 1-to-7 scale. Self-identified Republicans were markedly more likely to endorse hierarchy-management motives than non-Republicans, even after controlling for age, gender and income.

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Prior research separates bonding smiles that promote cooperation from dominance smiles that signal power. Cross-cultural work links societal diversity to bonding cues, prompting this study to treat partisan groups as cultural sub-communities that may shape nonverbal expectations.

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The sample’s 15 items produced two clusters: bonding versus hierarchy. Party affiliation was the strongest predictor of hierarchy ratings, outpacing general conservatism or Trump support. Younger respondents showed a modest hierarchy tilt; sporadic links to Black ethnicity were noted but not robust.

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Lead author Patrick Stewart (University of Arkansas) framed the findings as evidence that partisan identity shapes basic social perception, noting that smile meanings lie on a continuum. He acknowledged modest age effects and announced plans to code nonverbal behavior in upcoming political hearings.

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Psychiatrist Dr. Henry Abraham praised the sample size but warned that the partisan pattern demands scrutiny of researcher bias, funding sources and sampling methods. Dr. David Reiss offered a brief endorsement, saying the results “make sense.” The study’s reliability rating of 43.02 signals modest measurement precision, and critics question whether findings generalize beyond the election-adjacent context.

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If partisan lenses shape how citizens read facial cues, politicians’ smiles may reinforce ideological divides and sway voter perception. Recognizing these biases could refine campaign tactics, media analysis and voter education by exposing the political framing of nonverbal behavior.

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• “In the real world of politics you want to know who your leaders really are, and the best way of accomplishing that is by closely watching what they do and not just what they say,” — Patrick Stewart, Professor, University of Arkansas

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• “ He added, “If you grew up and live in a small community where everyone knows everybody else and everyone has a ‘place’ in the power structure, you don’t need to smile to signal that you are friendly and cooperative, you just have to show that you know who has power and who doesn’t.” — Patrick Stewart

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• “One is that the results are so partisan that you have to explore the methodology to see if the researchers took adequate pains to protect the process from their own bias — to what extent the researchers were biased, either consciously or unconsciously.” — Dr. Henry Abraham

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• “I think in general it makes sense,” — Dr. David Reiss

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The team will code nonverbal cues in the forthcoming Epstein hearings and pursue additional surveys to test the robustness of hierarchy-focused smile interpretations across contexts.

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