Which political party has smarter constituents?

Question

It seems fairly obvious to me that democrats are, on average, smarter than republicans based on which states have the highest test scores (SAT, IQ, etc.) and which parties those states tend to vote for. However, I'm having difficulty finding hard data on this subject. Can someone please help me locate some evidence, even if it disproves me?

BTW: A good place to check out would be census.gov

Other evidence to the naked eye is that democratic politicians tend to have more impressive resumes than their republican counterparts. Democrats tend to be Ivy League elites while Republicans take pride in their simplicity and go to places like Pat Robertson's Law School.

In response to nurseman916, the reason the plains states have high SAT's is that very few of them take the SAT. Outside of the east, people take the ACT, so only kids who know they'll do well will take the SAT.

Answer 1

Republicans. The whole Red State/ Blue State thing is a crock. Look at counties and congressional districts for a better comparison.

Answer 2

I don't think I can support this hypothosis.
From the 2004 national election if you look at a county by county red-blue map you'll see there are 3 types of areas with strong democratic voting tendancies.
1) Border areas (just beyond the dessert areas) where much of the populatin is not well educated and is largely mexican immigrant most likely to supprt democratic ideas of welfare.
2) Deep south along the Mississippi river and the cotton belt. Very high black populations as an after effect of slavery. Also very high poverty levels and notoriously lower education levels. Again these areas are most likely to support welfare programs offered by democrats. Large chunk of the black population are still voting straight democrat since the reconstruction era.
3) Major cities and high population centers. Well it's not the middle class who are living in the down town areas of the country. In fact a short drive will show only the very rich and the very poor. Again, the poor are most likely to support democrats on a welfare platform. The rich elitists think everyone should have these luxuries without any consideration for what it takes to get them, a benifit of being rich.

Yes there are plenty of people in the middle class who are democrats (unions are major supporters) but these are not the intellectual centers where the numbers come from. The majority of democrats are poor workers who would like some help from the government.
University faculty are 99% democrat though. But then they are also a buch of draft dodgers from the 60's. I do enjoy your condesention though.


http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

Answer 3

That's a completely flawed logic, which would seem to indicate that such a conclusion was reached by someone not so smart. I would guess a democrat. Furthermore, I would argue that on average the democratic party is comprised of lower intelligence constituents. This would be based on a basic observation that the democratic party caters to the "government take care of me" welfare, etc. recipients which generally are on the lower end of the IQ scale and register / vote democrat.
Though I would have to say that Libertarians, Independents, and the like are certainly much smarter.

Answer 4

This guy did some research during the Bush/Kerry contest in 2004. However, I still believe Libertarians are smarter than Republicans or Democrats :-).

If one troubles to break down the data by adding up the average SAT score for the 19 states, (including DC) that supported Kerry in 2004, one sees that the average "blue" state SAT score is 518 verbal and 523 math. Converting it to pre-1996 SAT scores makes that 438 verbal and 503 math for a cumulative score of 941 which equates to an IQ of 100.

Meanwhile, the average score for the 32 "red" states that voted for Bush in 2004 is 544 verbal and 545 math. Converting to pre-1996 scores gives 464 verbal and 525 math, for a cumulative SAT score of 989. This equates to an IQ of 105. Therefore, based on a statistically significant amount of hard data, it's quite clear that Republican states are, on average, more intelligent than Democratic states, which supports the exit poll data which previously indicated that Republicans are smarter.

Edit: The question was simply "which political party has SMARTER constituents." I have multiple degrees and I'm here to tell you that just having a degree or a nice resume does NOT mean that you are smart. (But that's just common sense, right?)

Answer 5

You ask your question in an incredibly biased manner. Neither party has the market cornered on intelligence. And the bulk of the constituency of both parties believes what they are told without giving much deeper thought to the issues at hand. There are intelligent people in both parties. The main difference is not in their level of intelligence however but in their approach to problem solving. Democrats on average tend to be more idealistic. They want things to be better and get very angry that they are not without considering the practical process required to change things. Republicans tend to be more pragmatic. They look for hard solutions to problems with realistic expectations. This sometimes makes them slow to change. But personally I've found that the smartest people are those that think for themselves.

By the way you might as well have labeled your question with the quote" Snobby democrats think republicans are dumb hicks." Very condescending. But these North-South stereotypes have been around for hundreds of years dating to the origins of the country's industrial and agrarian regions. And yes I am in Mensa.

Answer 6

I honestly do not think that any one political party can claim that they have "smarter constituents." An Ivy League education does not equate intelligence, either. President Bush attended the Ivy League, and as most Democrats so eagerly point out, he is not the sharpest tack in the draw, but he is a Republican.

My point is, it is quite possible to find equally intelligent people within either party. What one needs to ponder is why so many people follow the "leaders" of either party. It seems to me, that anyone who blindly follows the rhetoric spewed by these people has no chance of getting into Mensa; if you know what I mean.

Answer 7

Republicans. A much higher percentage of college graduates vote republican. The democratic party has become the minority party, most of whom just vote straight democrat without really knowing all of what is going on.

Answer 8

And democrats hate Pat Robertson, as well as Jerry Falwell and Jim Dobson. That proves they're smart, right?

Answer 9

I think my libertarian Party has smarter constituents but if you're comparing only Democrats and Republicans, I have to go with Democrats.

Answer 10

You are right. And the "Blue States" have higher education and income levels than the "Red States". Thats a big reason why the Republicans want to kill off public education with "No Child Left Behind".