How You Unconsciously Select a Presidential Candidate

With the primaries in full swing, you might start to think about who you will vote for come November.  It might seem like a very simple task, you either check the box for the candidate you want or write in a suitable contender -- but have you ever really thought about what makes you tick when it comes to voting?  The answer can be found in our minds, in a place where all the work comes from, a little something called the unconscious -- the part of the mind that affects our behavior and emotions.

Clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Stefan R. Zicht told FOXBusiness.com when it comes to selecting a candidate, “we often are not fully conscious of what actually leads us to vote as we do, [but] it is common to have implicit biases regarding candidates that are then rationalized to make more logical “sense” to us.”

Zicht, who has no particular knowledge of any of the current presidential strategies, says some emotions such as loyalty, mistrust and self-identity may play a role in influencing voter behavior.

“Research suggests while voters tend to discard information that doesn’t support their beliefs, emotions may play a significant role in certain voter behavior over rational decision making. In other words, it is more like believing is seeing than the other way around.” he said.

According to the latest Fox News poll, Donald Trump widened his lead over Ted Cruz while the Democratic race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton tightened.

“If you look at what’s happening with Trump, he doesn’t say anything substantial [but] he’s tapping people’s deepest need for a God. They [voters] have some faith in him on a deep unconscious level that they aren’t aware of,” said psychoanalyst Dr. Robert Katz.

While Dr. Katz is not a Trump supporter, he further associated how a therapy session could relate to the GOP frontrunner’s high polling numbers.

“When patients come into therapy at an unconscious level, they are hoping a doctor knows everything. Trump appeals to that part of the person -- all leaders do. It’s a deep basic aspect of repentance and we are dependent on a leader.”