On the Republican vs Democrat IQ debate

[Atreus21]

Not sure if this has been posted, since it dates to Spring 2014.

Disclaimer: My whole world doesn't come tumbling down if I find out my ideological opponents have higher IQs than me. I've found the whole exercise to be one in schoolyard dick-measuring.

Nonetheless, it seems that conventional wisdom has settled that democrats generally have higher IQs than republicans. Certain posters around here gleefully flaunt it. And I'd made peace with that until I found this:

http://reason.com/archives/2014/06/13/are-conservatives-dumber-than-liberals

Because research has "consistently shown that intelligence is positively correlated with socially liberal beliefs and negatively correlated with religious beliefs," Carl suggests that in the American political context, social scientists would expect Republicans to be less intelligent than Democrats. Instead, Republicans have slightly higher verbal intelligence scores (2–5 IQ points) than Democrats. How could that be?

Carl begins by pointing out that there is data suggesting that a segment of the American population holding classical liberal beliefs tends to vote Republican. Classical liberals, Carl notes, believe that an individual should be free to make his own lifestyle choices and to enjoy the profits derived from voluntary transactions with others. He proposes that intelligence actually correlates with classically liberal beliefs.

To test this hypothesis, Carl uses data on political attitudes and intelligence derived from the General Social Survey, which has been administered to representative samples of American adults every couple of years since 1972. Using GSS data, respondents are classified on a continuum ranging from strong Republican through independent to strong Democrat. Carl then creates a measure of socially liberal beliefs based on respondents' attitudes toward homosexuality, marijuana consumption, abortion, and free speech for communists, racists, and advocates for military dictatorship. He similarly probes liberal economic views, with an assessment of attitudes toward government provision of jobs, industry subsidies, income redistribution, price controls, labor unions, and military spending. Verbal Intelligence is evaluated using the GSS WORDSUM test results.

Comparing strong Republicans with strong Democrats, Carl finds that Republicans have a 5.48 IQ point advantage over Democrats. Broadening party affiliation to include moderate to merely leaning respondents still results in a Republican advantage of 3.47 IQ points and 2.47 IQ points respectively. Carl reconciles his findings with the social science literature that reports that liberals are more intelligent than conservatives by proposing that Americans with classically liberal beliefs are even smarter. Carl further reports that those who endorse both social conservatism and economic statism also have lower verbal IQ scores.

Apparently, socially liberal and economically conservative (economically classical liberal, that is) is the sweet spot for IQ. Or in other words, libertarians. The collective republican IQ is given a boost by the fact that libertarians are more likely to vote R than D.

Kinda like why the SEC has a good GPA overall: Vanderbilt.

The study itself is below, though it's only the abstract:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289614000373

 

[Newell Steamer]

I, personally, have never said conservatives are dumb. Fearful and scared - yes, of course.

But, stupid? Hell no.

Even if their intelligence is fueled by fear (i.e. I must be smart to stay one step ahead of my enemies,...), it is still intelligence. Now, it's a shame that this is intelligence under duress and it's used to 'out smart' something that isn't even a threat,... but, again, it is still intelligence.

Also, they are SO smart (which again, is fueled by fear), they can live with contradictions:
- pro-Lifers fight for lives,... just not people on Death Row
- government needs to stay out of everyone's personal lives,.. unless they are homosexuals or women seeking an abortion

EDIT: I did, early on, believe that conservatives were stupid (specifically over their contradictory views/beliefs), but, once I realized it is how their brain works, it made sense and it certainly is not stupid - given how successful some of them are.

 

[fskimospy]

Not sure if this has been posted, since it dates to Spring 2014.

Disclaimer: My whole world doesn't come tumbling down if I find out my ideological opponents have higher IQs than me. I've found the whole exercise to be one in schoolyard dick-measuring.

Nonetheless, it seems that conventional wisdom has settled that democrats generally have higher IQs than republicans. Certain posters around here gleefully flaunt it. And I'd made peace with that until I found this:

http://reason.com/archives/2014/06/13/are-conservatives-dumber-than-liberals

Apparently, socially liberal and economically conservative (economically classical liberal, that is) is the sweet spot for IQ. Or in other words, libertarians. The collective republican IQ is given a boost by the fact that libertarians are more likely to vote R than D.

Kinda like why the SEC has a good GPA overall: Vanderbilt.

The study itself is below, though it's only the abstract:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289614000373

The results when controlling for race and economic factors are really small.

 

[Genx87]

Republicans better hope Libertarians never get organized.

 

[Atreus21]

Also, they are SO smart (which again, is fueled by fear), they can live with contradictions:
- pro-Lifers fight for lives,... just not people on Death Row
- government needs to stay out of everyone's personal lives,.. unless they are homosexuals or women seeking an abortion

Contradictions exist on both sides.

With abortion, there's a distinction between fighting to save innocent lives over those who are guilty of true atrocities.

And government does need to stay out of everyone's personal lives as much as possible. If you live in a society, that society almost by definition has to be able to touch you in some way.

Anyway, I'm not going to threadjack my own thread.

 

[Atreus21]

The results when controlling for race and economic factors are really small.

You mean the IQ differences?

 

[Newell Steamer]

Anyway, I'm not going to threadjack my own thread.

Bottom line; conservatives are CLEARLY not idiots. They are some who are quite successful (political, business, leadership.. you name it) - if they were dumb for real, they would have died out a long time ago,.. so, they clearly know how to survive and live on.

 

[Atreus21]

Bottom line; conservatives are CLEARLY not idiots. They are some who are quite successful (political, business, leadership.. you name it) - if they were dumb for real, they would have died out a long time ago,.. so, they clearly know how to survive and live on.

It's interesting to me when I look at some genuinely good leaders and business owners. I'd wager I have a higher IQ than they do just by speaking to them, yet they are happier, more successful, driven, admired and ambitious than I am. I'd trade a high IQ in a second to have their qualities. It's no surprise sometimes that high IQ correlates with suicide risk and depression.

Intellect is only one piece of a very big pie.

 

[Newell Steamer]

It's interesting to me when I look at some genuinely good leaders and business owners. I'd wager I have a higher IQ than they do just by speaking to them, yet they are more successful, happier, driven, admired and ambitious than I am. I'd trade a high IQ in a second to have their qualities. It's no surprise sometimes that high IQ correlates with suicide risk and depression.

Intellect is only one piece of a very big pie.

You are seeing what is on the surface, the tangible. You just do not know what is going on in someone's mind - regardless of what they project.

That successful person may have Lord knows what going on in his/her mind. Or, what they do in privacy to cope with the stress of what they have to do or did to get to that point.

You see a person you've known for 2 to 4 years or rather in the few moments you chatted with them - beneath that, they could have been and gone through anything.

One piece - of course, but, it's a pretty important piece. People with low intelligence don't last long and people with high intelligence have been know to rise up from difficult situations (poverty for example).

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ehh, there are stupid conservatives and stupid liberals. We take the stupidest ones, and we elect them to public office. The public loves to have idiots in office, just look at congress, find one person who is not an idiot. I challenge you!

 

[Atreus21]

You are seeing what is on the surface, the tangible. You just do not know what is going on in someone's mind - regardless of what they project.

That successful person may have Lord knows what going on in his/her mind. Or, what they do in privacy to cope with the stress of what they have to do or did to get to that point.

You see a person you've known for 2 to 4 years or rather in the few moments you chatted with them - beneath that, they could have been and gone through anything.

One piece - of course, but, it's a pretty important piece. People with low intelligence don't last long and people with high intelligence have been know to rise up from difficult situations (poverty for example).

Just bear in mind: Cockroaches will outlive us. By a lot.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Just bear in mind: Cockroaches will outlive us. By a lot.

And they eat shit.

 

[alcoholbob]

The only reason "classical liberals" aka libertarians are counted in the Republican Party is because they followed Ron Paul after he switched from independent to Republican. Otherwise Repubs might not have won this IQ competition lol.

As far as being more liberal is a sign of a higher iq, this is a correct assumption, since liberty/classical liberalism is about the preference for negotiating (free market) over violence to get what you want, whereas classical conservatism is statism, it's using the violence of the state to achieve what you want, which is something you would do if you were incapable of negotiating so it's a low iq indicator.

In modern times the term "liberal" has been co-opted by pro-state/Marxist ideologies, so it's not even the same liberals people were referring to when originally postulating liberals are smarter. Most of the pro state ideologies like the welfare state originated during feudal times (during AH Empire and German/Prussian Empire) so many modern far left liberals are in fact classical conservatives. And, there's a strong argument that a lot of "modern liberalism" is shaped by immigrants from those countries so in a way they've exported their cultural preferences.

 

[soundforbjt]

Conservatives aren't stupid, they are masters at political bullshit that liberals have no hope of ever achieving. Joseph Goebbels would be envious of them.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Republicans better hope Libertarians never get organized.

This.

 

[alcoholbob]

This.

Politically I doubt libertarians will ever get anywhere since formong into a big party seems counter to small government principles, and special interests will never support libertarianism. Chances are the only time libertarians will be a national force will be like the first time they organized--the American Revolution.

 

[raildogg]

Forget IQ, I am wondering how can a so-called intelligent person be narrowed down to such a lousy term as a Democrat (liberal) or a Republican (conservative)?

 

[trenchfoot]

It seems to me the measure of a very specific aspect of intelligence, especially the kind of intelligence that is displayed in the halls of Congress and the White House for example, is in direct correlation to how corrupted a certain politician is.

The more corrupted a politician is, the more "stupidly" he/she behaves due to the inherent conflict of interests these corrupt politicians position themselves in, especially when they attempt to enrich themselves via their corrupt behavior at the expense of those voters who put them in office.

They have to lie out of both sides of their mouths and their asses to, in order of priority:

1. - Enrich themselves
2. - Enrich those few who bought and own them outright.
3. - Lie their asses off to get elected/re-elected.
4. - And then keep lying and behaving no different than a toothless used car salesman in Somalia to appear like they are doing their jobs.

By that measure, it becomes quite clear who is more "steeeeewwwped".

 

[marincounty]

If Republicans are smarter, how do you explain George Bush?
You know, the guy that all of those smart Republicans voted for.

 

[Matt1970]

It seems to me the measure of a very specific aspect of intelligence, especially the kind of intelligence that is displayed in the halls of Congress and the White House for example, is in direct correlation to how corrupted a certain politician is.

The more corrupted a politician is, the more "stupidly" he/she behaves due to the inherent conflict of interests these corrupt politicians position themselves in, especially when they attempt to enrich themselves via their corrupt behavior at the expense of those voters who put them in office.

They have to lie out of both sides of their mouths and their asses to, in order of priority:

1. - Enrich themselves
2. - Enrich those few who bought and own them outright.
3. - Lie their asses off to get elected/re-elected.
4. - And then keep lying and behaving no different than a toothless used car salesman in Somalia to appear like they are doing their jobs.

By that measure, it becomes quite clear who is more "steeeeewwwped".

This is very true.

 

[werepossum]

If Republicans are smarter, how do you explain George Bush?
You know, the guy that all of those smart Republicans voted for.

Algore and John Kerry.

 

[hal2kilo]

Just because you are ignorant doesn't mean you are stupid.

 

[MongGrel]

Just because you are ignorant doesn't mean you are stupid.

So true.

 

[Jaskalas]

Apparently, socially liberal and economically conservative (economically classical liberal, that is) is the sweet spot for IQ. Or in other words, libertarians.

Unfortunate though, that Republican and Democrat are SO mainstream that we get leftover Anarchists and get painted with that broad brush instead of being able to more frequently speak towards freedoms within a proper Constitutionally limited government.

Neither Democrat nor Republican leadership want a limited government, but they'll sign praise towards the idea so long as it steals them some votes. Their actions, however, are greatly disappointing.

 

[Anarchist420]

I can see that smarter people are more likely to be favor less centralization of govt power given that you don't know of many dumb libertarians other than myself.

Of course, there were also incredibly smart statists, communists, and fascists like Lincoln, Trotsky, and Hitler; but then, wilson, marx, lenin, stalin, mussolini, and franco weren't known for being geniuses.

I am not a big Reason fan, but thanks for the good article, OP