Constable: Lincolnshire man reads into presidential candidates' handwriting

One year from now, we'll choose the next president of the United States. For insights into each of the candidates, we wade through in-depth newspaper stories, watch televised debates and even fact-check those wild stories that your former high school classmate posts on Facebook. But 83-year-old Charles Benedetti of Lincolnshire possesses one more tool.

Handwriting is a window into the soul for Benedetti, who was a Catholic priest in the 1960s when he had his epiphany about the truths found in cursive writing. Benedetti was teaching a religious course in Zanesville, Ohio, when a nun looked at the priest's handwritten notes.

“Boy, you have a lot of resentment, don't you?” she asked.

Stunned by her comment, Benedetti realized the nun was right. Mostly, he resented the senior pastor, who enjoyed leisure activities while sticking Benedetti with routine chores.

“She looked at my handwriting, and within seconds, she nailed me,” Benedetti remembers. He was so impressed by the nun's insight, he followed her path and took a correspondence course from the International Graphoanalysis Society in Chicago. After completing the master's degree program in graphoanalysis in 1970, Benedetti left the priesthood and worked as a counselor and handwriting analyst, specializing in the handwriting of children who had been molested.

Just as children's drawings can help psychologists uncover secrets, handwriting gives clues to feelings and personalities, says Benedetti, who still offers free handwriting analysis for children and often donates his services for charity fundraisers.

“To me, it was a valuable tool,” he says, comparing graphoanalysis to the insights people make through body language. “You watch a guy walk, you can tell something about him. You watch a guy dine, you learn something about him.”

Benedetti believes so passionately in the power of graphoanalysis that when he met his future wife, Mary, on a blind date, he made an unusual request.

“I said, 'Write something.' I was looking for compatibility,” he says. Her handwriting revealed that she'd be a good partner, and they've now been married 45 years and have two grown children and two grandchildren.

Benedetti uses handwriting to analyze presidential candidates.

Greg Greco, who owns and runs the International Graphoanalysis Society, which has moved to Pennsylvania says “handwriting analysis can be useful for the voters.”

“However, it does not tell us how the writer specifically behaves in various circumstances,” Greco says.

But the signature of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump boasts “strong personality traits” that “jump off the page,” Benedetti says.

A Trump signature written before his run for office resembles “the teeth of a shark,“ “a buzz saw,” and “a meat grinder,” and it suggests that “his mind is sharp as a tack,” says Benedetti, who adds a caveat: “When you write your signature, that's the person you want people to see.”

A more-recent sample of Trump's signature is bigger, bolder and features three triangles that reveal a “rugged stubbornness,” Benedetti says. The twisted “o,” “a” and “D” indicate “a lack of frankness.”

The handwriting of GOP rival Dr. Ben Carson “reveals strong optimism, personal pride, willpower” and a philosophy he uses to help “navigate the waters of life.”

“However, he is held back from expressing himself freely and confidently due to repressed emotions and stress,” Benedetti says.

Carson's recent signature boasts a flourish that shows “a more flamboyant person seeking to occupy the White House,” Benedetti says.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's handwriting “is strongly endowed with intelligence, confidence, poise” and a down-to-earth philosophy,” Benedetti says.

“She's very strong. She's a person who doesn't show a lot of emotion, and when she does, she's under control.”

She also takes care to dot her I's and cross her T's, he says.

Her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, writes in a manner that suggests he “is a warm and friendly person, of calm disposition, outgoing and very eager to attract people to himself,” Benedetti says.

“Jeb Bush's signature reflects a calm disposition, a poised and relaxed nature, a friendly personality, with an overly sized ego, as reflected in the huge letter J of his name,” Benedetti says. “Notice how it is bigger than the B, which tells us he wants to be seen as taller than the image of the Bush clan. He wants to go it alone.”

Marco Rubio's handwriting suggests he is “a man with a calm nature, optimistic, friendly and emotionally mature.” While things could change with the pressure of the presidency, “he's in perfect balance” now, Benedetti says.

Carly Fiorina's signature suggests she is “a no-nonsense person of strong self-confidence, optimism and a clear mind,” Benedetti says. “Her approach to work is direct and emphatic. She is very efficient and can think on her feet. The final flourish of her name shows a subconscious need to protect herself.”

Handwriting analysis is just one tool a voter could use, Benedetti says. But Benedetti does seem accurate when it comes to his analysis of President Abraham Lincoln's handwriting.

“The 'o' in Lincoln is perfectly clear,” Benedetti says. “He's very honest.”