What kind of people actually become politicians?

Democratic politics are predicated on the idea that elected officials
are representative of the general population and that, once elected,
they work to understand and represent public interests. In other
words, one hopes that a good portion of politicians are driven by the
desire to understand voter needs and translate those needs into
policies. But is there any evidence that is true? What kind of people
actually become politicians?

The growing body of research into personality types and how they
interact with political ambitions and success paints an interesting
picture — and may go a long way toward explaining why politics feel
increasingly dysfunctional and divorced from everyday life. The
evidence indicates that politicians really are different from the rest
of us — and not in a good way.