Male Democrats Get Laid More After Obama Win: McCain Causes Testosterone Loss in Male Supporters, Who Lose Out on Sex

Testosterone Loser

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

McCain's Male Voters Suffered Testosterone Drop

A new study from researchers at Duke University and the University of Michigan found that young men who voted for the Republican candidate John McCain suffered from an immediate drop in testosterone when the election results were announced.

Men who also voted for Libertarian candidate Robert Barr in the 2008 presidential election suffered from a similar drop, while men who voted for the winner, Democrat Barack Obama, had stable testosterone levels immediately after the outcome.

In a post-election questionnaire, the McCain and Barr backers were feeling significantly more unhappy, submissive, unpleasant and controlled than the Obama voters.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone manufactured by the testes that is linked to aggression, risk-taking and responses to threats. Women have it too but in much lesser amounts and originating from different sources (their ovaries and adrenal glands), which makes them less likely to experience rapid testosterone changes following victory or defeat.

“Voters participate in elections both directly by casting their ballots, and vicariously because they don’t personally win or lose the election,” Stanton said. “This makes democratic political elections highly unique dominance contests.”

Stanton said the scientific consensus suggests the testosterone response to fighting and competition in males affects their future behavior in a beneficial way. The loser chills out a bit so he doesn’t continue to press his case and perhaps become injured. In contrast, the winner may be motivated to pursue further gains in social status. “The research on this extends beyond humans and other primates,” Stanton said.

The study also looked at levels of cortisol in the spit samples, a stress hormone behind the “fight or flight” response, and will discuss those findings in a forthcoming paper.

The college-aged men involved in this study would generally have more testosterone than older men, so perhaps the study provided a better opportunity to see the dominance response at work, LaBar said. “It would be interesting to see how this shakes out in older men.”

Hormonal shifts from vicarious competition are also likely to occur around hotly contested collegiate football and basketball contests, the researchers note.

To find out, they’re going to be repeating this kind of study on Duke and University of North Carolina basketball fans during one of their games this winter. “They’ll spit before the game and spit after the game, and we’ll just see,” LaBar said.

Source: Duke University