--- title: Politicians Who Smile Get More Votes, Says a Japanese Study description: A ground-breaking study released in Japan this week concludes that political candidates who smile more get more votes. canonical: https://time.com/5555663/politicians-smile-votes/ author: Amy Gunia article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-21T08:55:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:14.019Z article:section: Politics og:title: Politicians Who Smile Get Votes, Japanese Study Discovers og:description: Japanese researchers analyzed the campaign posters of 6,000 politicians. og:url: https://time.com/5555663/politicians-smile-votes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58d60940d38b1af7/6989470c4ee2622f6a31434f/smiling-politicians-more-votes.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: smiling-politicians-more-votes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Politicians Who Smile Get Votes, Japanese Study Discovers twitter:description: Japanese researchers analyzed the campaign posters of 6,000 politicians. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58d60940d38b1af7/6989470c4ee2622f6a31434f/smiling-politicians-more-votes.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Just in Time for the Primaries: Politicians Who Smile Get More Votes, Says a Japanese Study > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Amy Gunia](https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Mar 21, 2019 8:55 AM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colorado on Oct. 29, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colorado on Oct. 29, 2016. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Amy Gunia](https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Mar 21, 2019 8:55 AM UTC As the [candidate pool](http://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) for the 2020 U.S. presidential election gets increasingly crowded, one researcher may have some helpful advice for contenders. A ground-breaking study released in Japan this week concludes that political candidates who smile more [get more votes](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/20/national/politics-diplomacy/smiling-may-help-japanese-election-candidates-win-votes-study-claims/#.XJMeQxMzZhF). Masahiko Asano, a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo, used facial-recognition technology to analyze the campaign posters of 6,000 Japanese electoral candidates to assign them a smile-rating, according to the _Japan_ _Times_. He then cross-referenced the rating with the results of six Japanese elections between 1980 and 2017 to determine if a politician’s smile affected the candidate’s success rate. “In the situation that many candidates from various political parties are running, it’s very likely that how they look influences voting decisions,” Asano said, according to the _Times_. Asano’s research joins the ranks of a number weird and wacky studies on politician likability, including reports that [prettier](http://time.com/99981/prettier-women-get-elected-ugly-study-finds/) and [skinnier](http://time.com/106145/how-a-female-political-candidates-looks-affect-her-ability-to-win/) candidates often win elections. Another analysis has determined that victories by local sports teams in the days leading up to an election might [help incumbents get re-elected](https://www.wired.com/2010/07/sports-influence-politics/). Yet another study found that people are most likely to cast votes for candidates their favorite [newscasters](https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201608/if-the-anchor-likes-you-so-do-i-likability-is-electability?amp) like, and one researcher contends that former President Barack Obama’s canine-friend [Bo Obama](https://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.polisci/files/Mutz%5Fdogs.pdf) may have carried him in the 2012 election. At least [15 candidates](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/21/politics/2020-democrats-running-for-president/index.html) have thrown their hat into the ring for the Democratic seat in next year’s U.S. presidential election. With the competition fierce, candidates who need all the help they can get may do well to heed Asano’s advice. 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