{"id":1865,"date":"2026-06-05T21:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1865"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:38:11","slug":"when-do-candidate-scandals-actually-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1865","title":{"rendered":"When do candidate scandals actually matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div> <div>\n<button>\n<strong>\n<span><svg>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>Summary<\/span>\n<\/strong>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/button>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Polling has shown that voters may find behavior disqualifying yet still support candidates.<\/li>\n<li>It largely depends on the circumstances \u2014 including the type of problems, how close an election is and the candidate\u2019s personal appeal.<\/li>\n<li>Extramarital affairs don&#8217;t seem to matter much to voters unless there are other scandalous allegations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<span>AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            An exit poll in the contentious 2025 Virginia attorney general\u2019s race included a striking takeaway, with national implications: People who find candidates\u2019 past behavior disqualifying may still vote for them.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1853\">\u2018What else do we have?\u2019 Maine Democrats signal they\u2019ll stick with Graham Platner, some with regret<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            Late in the campaign, it had been revealed that Democratic nominee Jay Jones sent text messages years earlier suggesting that a GOP lawmaker should be shot and that his children should die.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Jones still won the election by more than six points. The exit poll showed 41% of voters said the texts were \u201cdisqualifying\u201d \u2014 but 9% of those people voted for him anyway.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Given that example and plenty of others, including President Donald Trump\u2019s lengthy political career despite his own personal scandals, it can be tempting to assume that personal controversies \u2014 like the multitude about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner \u2014 don\u2019t really matter.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jay Jones, Democratic attorney general nominee for Virginia, during an election night event at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, on November 4, 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-1860\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fc7f10d10bc1a62a5bfc87e0504003ec.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fc7f10d10bc1a62a5bfc87e0504003ec.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fc7f10d10bc1a62a5bfc87e0504003ec-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Jay Jones, Democratic attorney general nominee for Virginia, during an election night event at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, on November 4, 2025.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Al Drago\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images\/File<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            The New York Times on Thursday published a lengthy investigation about six women Platner dated, with three saying he had engaged in toxic behavior and one accusing him of physically threatening conduct (Platner has strongly disputed any claims of physical intimidation or altercations). That\u2019s after previous stories about Platner\u2019s Nazi symbol tattoo (that Platner claims he didn\u2019t understand until recently), ugly internet posts and sexting with women who weren\u2019t his wife.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Platner has continued to lead in the polls of the Maine Senate race, despite the tattoo and the internet posts (though those polls don\u2019t reflect the latest revelations).\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            It might be tempting to reason that the country has just become so partisan that none of it matters. But that\u2019s an over-simplification.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            It\u2019s fair to say ugly personal problems don\u2019t matter the way they once did. But depending on the circumstances \u2014 including the type of problems, how close an election is and the candidate\u2019s personal appeal \u2014 recent history shows they can still play a major role in elections.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        The Trump example\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Trump\u2019s personal baggage has little comparison in modern American politics. After having his extramarital affairs plastered all over the tabloids for many years, there was the \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape\u2019s release in 2016, him being found civilly liable for sexual abuse in 2023 and him being convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in 2024.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            He still won the 2024 election, of course.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But it\u2019s clear he did so at least in part because he\u2019s spent years working to mitigate these problems. He not only built a cult of personality in the Republican Party, but he cast himself as an unvarnished advocate for people with better morals \u2014 the serial sinner who delivers the faithful. And he undercut the legal scrutiny he faced by relentlessly claiming it was the work of nefarious Democrats.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            All of which has given Republicans and enough independents sufficient license to downgrade the importance of these personal problems \u2014 if not dismiss them.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        What voters are willing to overlook\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            And that\u2019s clearly what has happened.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            A Gallup poll late in 2024 showed registered voters said by double-digits that Kamala Harris had stronger moral character than Trump. But they also said by double-digits that Trump was a more \u201cstrong and decisive leader.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris both speak as they attend a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-1861\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/49d509f9008ea8dc056e3d4440a22ea9-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/49d509f9008ea8dc056e3d4440a22ea9-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/49d509f9008ea8dc056e3d4440a22ea9-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/49d509f9008ea8dc056e3d4440a22ea9.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris both speak as they attend a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Brian Snyder\/Reuters\/File<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            We know which attribute carried the day.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Also telling is a 2018 CNN poll, which asked whether people believed that Trump had actually engaged in affairs. While 65% of Republican-leaning voters , just 22% said it was \u201cdefinitely true.\u201d That illustrates another massive factor: the suspension of disbelief.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But something else played a role there, too \u2014 extramarital affairs just don\u2019t rank that high on Americans\u2019 scandal-meter.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Even as far back as 2016, Pew Research Center polling showed just 37% of Americans said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who had an affair. It was less of a perceived problem than having personal financial issues or being an atheist.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            A 2014 Quinnipiac University poll, meanwhile, showed people tended to be less concerned about affairs than they were about official misconduct. It became a little bit closer when the affairs also demonstrated hypocrisy (i.e. the candidate ran on moral values).\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1849\">First on CNN: DOJ sends prosecutor to observe LA ballot counting amid Trump\u2019s baseless \u2018cheating\u2019 claims<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            Recent history bears out that affairs don\u2019t seem to be much of a factor.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            There was a school of thought that Democrat Cal Cunningham lost North Carolina\u2019s 2020 US Senate race after a late revelation of an affair. He had been leading in most polls, after all. But in context, his narrow loss was in line with what might have been expected in a state that Trump narrowly won in the same election.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        When it does matter\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Other recent politicians to lose amid such ugly allegations also generally had other problems.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker in 2022 had a myriad personal issues, but he was also a broadly uneven candidate who showed little command of the issues. (He also had hypocrisy issues, in that he pitched himself as anti-abortion rights but was accused of pressuring a woman to seek an abortion \u2014 which he denied.)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Republican Roy Moore shockingly lost a 2017 special election for US Senate in deep-red Alabama, after reports that he had pursued relationships with teenage girls decades earlier, while he was in his 30s. Moore denied the allegations.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mark Robinson, then-Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina and candidate for Governor, delivers remarks at a campaign event at Harrah's Cherokee Center on August 14, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.\" class=\"wp-image-1862\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/984d51a0b7c58721be287d5fff1295de.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/984d51a0b7c58721be287d5fff1295de.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/984d51a0b7c58721be287d5fff1295de-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Mark Robinson, then-Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina and candidate for Governor, delivers remarks at a campaign event at Harrah&#8217;s Cherokee Center on August 14, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Grant Baldwin\/Getty Images\/File<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is greeted by supporters as he arrives at his election night party in Montgomery, Alabama, December 12, 2017.\" class=\"wp-image-1863\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/037e8f4fac10d2a934ebbc7737d29da9.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/037e8f4fac10d2a934ebbc7737d29da9.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/037e8f4fac10d2a934ebbc7737d29da9-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is greeted by supporters as he arrives at his election night party in Montgomery, Alabama, December 12, 2017.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post\/Getty Images\/File<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            And 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson lost that race by a wide margin after revelations by CNN\u2019s KFile about a series of bizarre comments \u2014 like calling himself a \u201cblack NAZI!\u201d \u2014 while posting on a pornographic internet message board.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Virginia Attorney General Jones\u2019 problems also obviously mattered. While he won by more than six points, the other statewide Democratic candidates running on the same ballot won by 12 and 15 points. So Democrats won by enough that day to pull him across the line.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            So voters do care about at least some personal scandals.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Where Platner stands\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            For Platner, his chances of winning likely boil down to whether people believe these failings are simply a relic of his past and if they will affect how he would represent Maine.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The idea that he might secretly harbor Nazi sympathies because of his tattoo doesn\u2019t seem to have penetrated, at least so far. He\u2019s also pitched himself as someone with real personal failings, but who has worked to grow from them. It\u2019s almost part of his everyman image \u2014 somewhat similar to how Trump utilized his playboy image.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But the sexting accusations are more recent, so it\u2019s possible that could give voters pause about Platner\u2019s judgment \u2014 and cut against his argument that he\u2019s reformed. While people might be willing to dismiss affairs, the Times reporting could make people believe he\u2019s anti-woman. And given one of the women alleged that Platner knew his tattoo was a Nazi symbol, directly contradicting his public defense that he was unaware until recently, that could erode some voters\u2019 trust.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, speaks during a\" class=\"wp-image-1864\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/adc5c2ea1be61ba251a7bacf070608ce-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/adc5c2ea1be61ba251a7bacf070608ce-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/adc5c2ea1be61ba251a7bacf070608ce-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/adc5c2ea1be61ba251a7bacf070608ce.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, speaks during a &#8220;Fighting Oligarchy&#8221; campaign rally with US Senator Bernie Sanders in Portland, Maine on May 25.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Amanda Sabga\/Reuters<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            It also matters how strongly voters feel about him. One thing Platner has going in his favor is that he seems to have a real magnetism as a candidate \u2014 not necessarily as much as Trump does with Republicans, but certainly in the same ballpark.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            It\u2019s easier for voters to forgive candidates they find likeable, after all. It\u2019s easier to give plausible deniability to someone you really want to succeed.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            So it\u2019s hard to say which way this will lean on Platner. While he has proven resilient in polls, Democrats would be well-advised to view those polls skeptically.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            After all, GOP Sen. Susan Collins\u2019 Democratic opponent led in every poll in 2020, before Collins won by nine points.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            And even the polling Platner leads suggests his support isn\u2019t locked in. A  last month showed that while 12% of Collins\u2019s supporters said they could change their mind, 18% of Platner\u2019s supporters said the same.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Platner has given them plenty of reason to waver.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The question likely comes down to what voters think is more important: potentially disqualifying behavior or having an additional check on Trump.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1846\">First on CNN: House member\u2019s chief of staff charged with carrying a gun into US Capitol complex<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Graham Platner weathers another scandal, a look at when personal problems have actually mattered in elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When do candidate scandals actually matter? 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