Format painter not working?

My format painter never seems to work as it is supposed to. 

For example. I edited an objects state (changed the colors, location, ect.) but when I chose format painter and painted on a new object all it did was add a state, but none of the visual formatting carried over. 

I've never been able to get the format painter to actually copy the visual formatting of one object to another. 

Can anyone tell me what exactly does the format painter copy and what will it not copy?