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Partisanship and Political Work: Differential Associations of Partisan Identification and Partisan Narcissism with Politicians’ Skills and Performance

In this research, we investigate the role of partisan identity in predicting political skills, performance, and intragroup behavioural intentions among political elites. We differentiate the strength of partisan identification from partisan narcissism—a belief in the greatness of one’s political party that is not appreciated by others. We recruited active political party members who had run for office in recent elections in Iceland (N=214) to participate in an online survey. We found that partisan identification was related to higher levels of political skills and political performance, including higher analytical skills and ability to represent others. Partisan identification also predicted higher party loyalty and more time spent volunteering in party activities. Meanwhile, partisan narcissism was only related to politicking—the inclination to engage in secrecy, deception, and political blood-sport. Cumulatively, these results suggest that partisan identification is associated with meticulousness and representation of others in politicians’ work. Conversely, partisan narcissism seems to contribute to being cunning in the political arena.