Robert Downey Jr. Snagging Oscar Vote for Being Charismatic at Party

Robert Downey Jr. is the front-runner to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor -- but one Academy member is openly admitting ... he's voting for him because he met him in person.

The Hollywood Reporter did their annual writeup that polls anonymous AMPAS members to see what their thought process is going into the new Academy Awards -- which are a couple weeks away -- and one of them was candid on their thoughts about RDJ.

This member said they were voting for Bob ... but it sounds like it might have more to do with his personality than his actual performance -- which is a little disheartening to hear.

They say, "I was torn between Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr., and even though it’s cheesy I’ll be real with you: I met Downey at an awards season party, we had an interaction that I did not initiate, and it tipped the scales for me."

This anonymous voter adds ... "Campaigning matters! What’s really great about him as an actor, in this film and so many others, is his ability to be believable all the time. I loved watching him turn as the story turned on Strauss."

In other words ... they liked RDJ's work in "Oppenheimer," but a little schmoozing went a long way with this person when they met Rob in real life. So, no ... it's not all on merit, it seems.

The reason that kinda sucks ... well, in a perfect world -- you'd like to think people who vote at the Oscars are only looking at what they see on screen, and are judging off of that. But, as this person is confessing, there are some politics involved in this process.

This mystery Academy member calls it campaigning ... another word for it is, lobbying.

While Downey Jr. has been considered a shoo-in from the start -- yes, his performance is actually spectacular and worthy of recognition -- this is the type of stuff you don't really wanna hear if you're Ruffalo, Robert De Niro, Sterling K. Brown or Ryan Gosling.