Since we are these days sort of getting bombarded by all the news online and in the newspaper about the Presidential Election since this is an election year, I wanted to write a post about the heights of the presidential candidates and how their sizes will be viewed in comparison next to each other. Now, for most casual news readers, they probably have heard many times and have maybe even read a few posts that showed that maybe 60%-70% of the time, the taller of the presidential candidates have won the election.

This is absolutely true.

Note all of the article below which have shown the correlation between being the taller candidate and winning the presidency.

Mark’s Daily Apple , The Washington Post, ABC News, The Guardian UK, The Straight Dope, Christian Science Monitor, Live Science, Economist, The New York Times, and many, many more links to articles saying the same message.

As stated by ABC news…

– Previous observations have shown that taller candidates have won 58 percent of U.S. presidential elections and the popular vote in 67 percent of the elections between 1789 and 2008, a phenomenon known as the “presidential height index.” –

Most political scientists and sociologist have long known that stature, as well as a host of other physical qualities subconsciously influence voters.

The Democratic Presidential Candidate for this 2012 election is our current president Barack Obama who stand at 6′ 1″ and is around 81 kg in weight but is actually reported between 185-186 cm (source 1). Even the official White House physician has reported president Obama’s measurements HERE.   so he might be actually more like 6′ 1.25″ since many people have stated that he seems to be taller then the 6′ 1″ inch height that has been reported about him for so long now. He is indeed charismatic and most women in the older generations mostly agree that he is good looking for a man his age and his position and power is attractive to women who like men who display alpha male behavior like confidence, warmth, and charisma.

The Republican party presidential Nominee for this 2012 election Mitt Romney is stated to be 6′ 2″ (188 cm)    (source 1, source 2). I remember hearing about Romney in 2008 when he was running as well and he has always been reported to be 6′ 2″ and he has been described by many people who have known him throughout his life to being “tall” and “good looking” which are nice attributes to have when you are vying for quite possibly the mosty powerful position in the free world.

As stated by the sources on Romney…

– Riley admits the study has validity “when all other things are equal,” but he was hesitant to use the caveman rule to speculate on who might be the Republican nominee. “Romney looks like a president,” he said. “He is handsome, telegenic with good hair. He looks like someone right out of central casting.” –

Let’s begin the height comparison analysis

If we put these guys right next to each, there are some clear differences you see.

First, Obama goes with the traditionally clean closed shaved head where his hair rises about 1/4th-1/2 inch above the tip of his head. This type of hair style is very popular for many adult African American males.

As for Romney, we see that his hair is pulled back in a manner that gives him an extra 1 inch in height. If we then assume that Obama and Romney both are wearing professional dress shoes, then we can say that they are probably wearing the same type of shoe with the same amount of height elevation, which is usually around 1.25-1.5 inches in height.

This puts Obama around the 6′ 3″ mark adding his dress shoes, his full height and his hair style. For Romney, We say his hair plus his height plus his dress shoes puts him at the 6′ 4.5″ mark. Since we will be watching these two candidates standing next to each other a lot, we would guess they would both be standing up straight to project an image of power and authority.

Now, 1.50 inches is a little over 4 cm which when you see it from far away is noticeable of a difference. From this type of judging system where the measuring tape is the true judge, it would be clear that Romney would win the election and become the next president. However, I would assume that people probably care more about what their leader should be besides being “tall”. The country is currently in a bad economic state and we need a good strong leader to lead us out of this depression and make the country better and bring more people out of poverty.

I know I will never make a judgement on who my leader should be just from judging them by the measurement of their body size.