What draws you to a political candidate? Is it their swagger; their smile; their money; their beliefs; the lack of negative press against the; or their religious preferences? Research indicates that the answer may be in their voice.
Research over the past 50 years have analyzed the tone and pitch of presidential candidates during that time period. In all of those eight elections, the candidate with the lowest pitched voice won.
Men and women traditionally find that low-pitched voices are more attractive and also indicate natural leadership ability. This bit of research has not been tested until now. Whether it is in peacetime or in times of war, voters naturally select low-pitched voices to be their political leaders.
Males who exude dominance, the ability to reproduce successfully, and are natural leaders predominately have low-pitched voices, scientists have precluded. Multiple testing has proven that it is not a factor of attraction that voters are drawn to the lower voice. It is simply because the candidates are seen as leaders and dominate.
Low voices, though pivotal in attraction to the opposite sex, does help women remember what was said by that other person. Research results released earlier this year indicate that low-pitched voices improve the accuracy of female memory. This could be an important fact to consider in the current political race.
Women not only remember facts and circumstances associated with low-pitched voices, but find those with high-pitched voices as being antisocial and cold or unwarm/uncaring. This could also affect the political landscape maturing before our eyes.
Men may not have increased memory associated with low-pitched voices, but research shows that they do find these males are more dominant.
As one might notice in casual social circles, men will often lower their voice to sound dominant and to make their opponent or the listener more submissive. Research proves that dominance, not attraction, is a stronger indication for sexual attraction for women and also points to women’s attentiveness to the listener. In contrast, when men perceive themselves as having less dominance compared to their opponent, they will instinctively raise their vocal pitch or tone.
One might wonder how this relates to female political candidates. Currently, this and other physical traits are currently being tested and will be available in the future.