Politicians: Research Shows It’s Not What They Say, But How They Say It

It is no accident that the most successful world leaders in history were also very powerful public speakers. Political figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Adolf Hitler were known for their influential speeches. Today, many believe that all politicians are the same, spewing out whatever their audience wants to hear in order to win as many votes as possible. Recent research has shown that for these individuals, it is not so much what is said, but how it is said.

Rosario Signorello, a researcher at UCLA’s Department of Head and Neck Surgery, lead a team in analysis of four presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Carly Fiorina (who has since dropped out of the race). The team studied their vocal pitches and the strategies that they used in their orations in the hopes of discovering what made these frontrunners such great speakers.

Signorello’s and his researchers analyzed their subjects’ speaking habits in three different contexts: political rallies, conversations with their political opponents, and interviews where the topic was not politics. After evaluating each setting for each subject, Signorello discovered that there were some very significant similarities between them all despite their very obvious differences in belief.

At a briefing at the Acoustical Society of America in Salt Lake City, Signorello discussed his findings. “Politicians use voice as a very powerful behavior to convey their charisma … [thy] are the best public speakers because they face every type of audience, from elementary school to very old people.”

Every potential presidential candidate changed their speaking habits depending on what demographic they were speaking to. For example, when addressing groups of supposedly “lower” status, the speakers utilized a high range of both vocal pitch and volume, rather than the lower frequencies used when speaking in front of other politicians. The higher frequency is meant to make the orator appear charismatic, whereas the opposite indicates dominance.

Politicians utilize specific approaches when it comes to public speaking; each of the four subjects applied the same strategies to their addresses. That’s not to say each candidate didn’t have their own special approaches.

Signorello pointed out, in particular, Bernie Sanders’ vocal habits are extremely varied in reflection of his listeners. “Given that he has a very diverse audience in terms of age, cultural background, [and] gender, he has to diversify a lot because he wants to be perceived as charismatic by everyone.”

There is a certain stigma surrounding modern politics, in which politicians spew out whatever they believe their audience wants to hear in order to appear in the best possible light. The general belief is that politicians are more concerned with winning votes than with communicating their honest beliefs. However, recent research at UCLA has shown that the importance lies not in what is said, but how it is said.

Featured Image via Flickr/Eric Salard.