Right-wingers who hate body odours drawn to strict leaders

People with strong Right-wing views may be driven by a fear of infectious disease and increased concern about hygiene, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that people who are easily disgusted by the body odours of others, such as sweat, bad breath or the smell of urine, are also drawn to authoritarian political leaders, such as Donald Trump.

In the study, 160 people were rated on their aversion to bodily odours and their responses compared with their political views.

“There was a solid connection between how strongly someone was disgusted by smells and their desire to have a dictator-like leader who can suppress radical protest movements and ensure that different groups ‘stay in their places’,” said study author Jonas Olofsson, a researcher in scent and psychology at Stockholm University.

The research was published in Royal Society Open Science.