In contemporary times, voter awareness has increased, and information circulates more rapidly, intensifying electoral competition. A review of the literature reveals that much of the existing research has explored “party identification” or “the impact of traditional media on electoral campaigns”, with scant attention given to the candidates’ personal images. However, as times change, the influence of party identification has waned, supplanted by the “candidate image” as a critical factor in voter decision-making. This study synthesizes five dimensions from past literature—family background, personal traits, party identification, electoral strategies, and media relations—along with 23 influencing criteria under these dimensions and proposes an evaluation framework for “candidate image” following an expert survey. This paper employs DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) to explore the key criteria affecting candidate image, initially using DEMATEL to calculate the interrelationships among the criteria, then applying ANP to ascertain the precise weights of each criterion. Finally, it incorporates Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) to create a performance evaluation chart, determining the management approaches for each criterion. The research findings indicate a consensus among legislators and their staff on the importance of media image and political experience as key criteria, hoping to offer pertinent recommendations for political practitioners and emerging scholars.

(DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16268265)