But when the politicians were addressing other politicians, such as when Clinton spoke to a United Nations commission, when Sanders spoke to the U.S. Senate or when Trump and Fiorina spoke at the New Hampshire Republican Leadership Summit, the candidates limited their pitch to the low and medium frequencies. There's a good reason that some of the most successful politicians, for better or worse, are also known as outstanding orators, able to persuade large and diverse crowds with powerful speeches. Signorello wanted to see whether there was any way to pin down what makes a politician an effective speaker, by analyzing the strategies they use. But that didn't mean that they all share the exact same behaviors; different candidates had their own particular quirks. "They have to diversify in their speech because they address an extremely diverse audience, so it's like they're focusing on subgroups of their audience and trying to fulfill each one's expectation" of what a charismatic leader sounds like, Signorello said. There's a good reason that some of the most successful politicians, for better or worse, are also known as outstanding orators, able to persuade large and diverse crowds with powerful speeches. The researchers looked at three different settings political rallies, discussions with other political figures, and talk show interviews that did not feature political subject matter. "Politicians use voice as a very powerful behavior to convey their charisma," Rosario Signorello, a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA's Department of Head and Neck Surgery and one of the researchers behind the work, said a recent briefing. Signorello wanted to see whether there was any way to pin down what makes a politician an effective speaker, by analyzing the strategies they use. When it comes to politics, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. That's a pattern that's meant to signal power and dominance and it's a well-worn strategy across the mammalian kingdom. "Given that he has a very diverse audience in terms of age, cultural background, gender, he has to diversify a lot because he wants to be perceived as charismatic by everyone," Signorello said of Sanders. Seasoned politicians know this all too well; some presidential hopefuls in this once-crowded election campaign may have learned it the hard way. There's a good reason that some of the most successful politicians, for better or worse, are also known as outstanding orators, able to persuade large and diverse crowds with powerful speeches. Even with very different messages, politicians may sound the same, new research finds.