Back in the summer of 1988 I was sitting on a boathouse deck on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks reading the New York Times. There was an article about the potential vice-presidential picks for George Herbert Walker Bush. It had little thumbprint photos of each prospect. One face leaped out: Sen. Dan Quayle (R-IN). Quayle looks much more handsome if he doesn’t move around and reveal how stupid he is. In a still photo, he looks hunky. I turned to my girlfriend said, “This is the guy he’s gonna pick.” I had never heard of Dan Quayle, and I’m not sure Poppy had either. But the picture told me all I needed to know. Now USA Today reports on the validity of my analysis.

Candidates campaign on the issues, but new research shows some people are swayed by looks alone.

Although rendering a snap judgment on a candidate’s competence with just a quick glance may seem a superficial way to judge people, a Princeton University study finds that such reasoning accurately predicted election outcomes in about 70% of gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races last year.

Even the researchers were surprised by the strength of their findings.

Todorov says he had a difficult time believing his own findings were so pronounced. “I was surprised the first time. I replicated it three or four times before I was convinced that’s a real effect,” he says. “I was surprised how strong the effect was.”

People are just not that bright.