By Linda Conlin, Pro to Pro Managing Editor

Over the past several months, or more, we certainly have seen many politicians in the news, on television, and in social media. It occurred to me that very few are seen wearing glasses. Why? Online searching revealed several opinions on the matter.

The last president whom we can recall always wearing glasses in public was Harry Truman. According to The Vision Council, 75.6% of U.S. adults use vision correction. Certainly, these public figures all can’t be in the remaining 24.4%. Contact lenses and vision correction surgery account for at least some of the lack of eyeglass wearing in public, but why not eyeglasses in the first place? Some speculation was that modern lighting created unattractive glare from the lenses, but anti-reflective coatings take care of that. Other suggestions included eyeglasses as a sign of old age and weakness, or unattractiveness. But there, today’s fashionable styles contradict that train of thought and can convey a sense of boldness and forward thinking. Don’t we all know someone who looks better in glasses? The right eyewear can call attention to our best features while playing down lesser ones.

In 2018, a team of researchers from University of Cologne, Germany investigated 203 Americans’ perceptions of politicians with and without eyeglasses. They showed the participants 16 pairs of politicians, half wearing glasses and half without, then asked whom they would vote for. The study found that wearing glasses increased politicians’ electoral success in the U.S. The team conducted a total of seven studies with up to 400 participants and found that the preference for bespeckled politicians was independent of political orientation. They also found that this positive effect was especially strong when intelligence was important, and the effect was strongest among political liberals, regardless of whether the politician was identified as Democrat or Republican. Interestingly, in one of the studies, eyewear had no effect on ratings of personal warmth. The preferences did not extend to a study done in India, however, “due to different cultural associations with glasses,” which are less positive than in the West. (Alexandra Fleishmann, et al. Glasses Can Increase Electoral Success, December 2018)

Maybe Harry Truman, Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson (Lyndon Johnson wore glasses often, but not always, Joe Biden sported aviator sunglasses, and other presidents were seen with reading glasses) had a political edge because of their eyewear. For my part, dear politicians, while you’re telling me what you’ll do for me, show me the eyewear!