This study examines the role of compassion in voter assessments of can
didate images in the 1988 presidential election. It is a quality often
ignored in these analyses. This article compares compassion with thre
e other dimensions of candidate image-leadership, integrity, and intel
ligence-and finds that approximately two-fifths of all voters in 1988
were influenced more by their evaluations of the candidates' level of
compassion than by the other dimensions of candidate image.