Political Candidates’ Credibility and the Filipino Youth’s Voting Behaviors: Gauging the Influences of Ethos in the 2016 Philippine National Elections

Abstract

The paper investigates the possible effects of the Filipino youth’s perceptions of political candidates’ ethos on their voting behaviors in the 2016 Philippine National Elections. Ethos or source credibility is measured through its dimensions originally conceptualized by Aristotle— competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. The results reveal that the three facets have significant effects on voting decisions. Moreover, the statistical models employed show that the interactions between ethos dimensions and voting patterns are more than just causal relations; competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill could be significant predictors of polling decisions. The findings reaffirm the propositions of both classical and contemporary persuasion theories that argue the crucial role of credibility in persuasive communication transactions. The same data as well implicitly lend support to the triadic association of the aforementioned ethos factors, strengthening claims that these dimensions are intercorrelated; and that they move in the same direction.

Keywords: ethos/ source credibility, competence, trustworthiness, goodwill, voting behaviors, 2016 Philippine National Elections