¿Es Hillary lo suficientemente alta como para ganar?

Social psychologists, economists, and others have assembled plenty of evidence that being tall is a social advantage, particularly for men whose height contributes more to perceptions of sexual attractiveness (1). Moreover, if taller people are perceived as healthier, this might make them more desirable as leaders.

Tall people are better paid and attain higher social status. Political economists conclude that the income advantage from stature is due to the fact that taller people tend to be more intelligent (reflecting better nutrition at all phases of development) and that “it is cognitive ability rather than height that is rewarded in the labor market.” (2,3) Of course, this is true for women as well as men.

Based on height differences of past presidential candidates in races since 1900, Clinton's chances of victory are no better than one in three. Yet, we do not know whether the electorate makes an appropriate allowance for the fact that women are shorter, on average. Although there are far fewer female politicians in America compared to other developed countries, being female does not appear to work against electoral success and many of the most popular politicians are women.

Another important caveat is that stature as such may be relatively unimportant. The research on hiring and salaries finds that tall people are better paid because they tend to be more intelligent. If the election is an intelligence test, Clinton (5' 7”) does not have much to fear from Trump (6' 3') who lurches from one damaging off-the-cuff mistake to the next.

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