What if the results of the 2012 election hinge not on which candidate is the most non-crazy or has the least bad ideas but, rather, on whose voice most puts voters in the mood for sensual seduction?

A new study has found that both men and women prefer male and female political candidates with deeper voices, ScienceDaily reports.

To test subjects' voice pitch preferences, two biologists from Duke University and one political scientist from the University of Miami recorded clips of men and women saying "I urge you to vote for me this November." Each recording was then edited to create a higher- and lower-pitched version of the original.

The team played the recordings of the female voices to 37 men and 46 women at the University of Miami, and the male voices to 49 men and 40 women at Duke. Both men and women "elected" the candidates with the lower-pitched voices, regardless of the speaker's gender.

In a second experiment, the authors played the same high- and low-pitched recordings to three groups of 35 men and 35 women and asked the subjects to choose which candidate seemed stronger, more trustworthy, and more competent.

Curiously, while both men and women found lower-pitched female voices to demonstrate all three traits, only male subjects perceived lower-pitched male voices as stronger and more competent.

Duke Biologist Rindy Anderson speculated that the difference in men's and women's reactions to the male voices may stem from the use of different biological cues to gauge a speaker's competitiveness and social aggressiveness. (The findings suggest that men may use pitch to glean this information, while women could rely on a separate set of cues.)

Just in case you were wondering, the consensus among historians is that President Abraham Lincoln's voice was probably a little higher than what one might expect for a man of his stature. Back then, this shrillness might have acted as a blessing rather than a hindrance; it's thought that the pitch helped carry his voice over large crowds.

For ease of comparison:
Here is Barack Obama singing Al Green.
Here is Mitt Romney liking grits.
Here is the next President of the United States.

[Image via Getty]