A smile and a sympathetic ear go a long way in politics – sadly, not far enough

‘Persuading people is harder than just hearing them out – it’s making the case, not just being liked, that matters.’ Photograph: rimom/Alamy

If you want to persuade someone, start by listening to them. We’ve all heard that, and it sounds right. But it’s not true, concludes interesting new American research.

The authors put together a big experiment, setting up Zoom calls between experienced canvassers and members of the public recruited via Facebook ads. The experiment was to test the impact of the canvassers (who presented as people who supported undocumented migrants being able to access tuition in state colleges) on the opinions of the punters (who were selected for being sceptical of such policies).