So, yeah, there's this election tomorrow, in case you hadn't heard. And if you need any more incentive to head to the polls, here it is: A study out of Scotland's University of Edinburgh found that people with higher IQs voted more often, regardless of their occupation. The data came from a U.K. study begun in 1970 that has tracked the recent voting habits of about 17,200 people born that year. They found that for every 15 IQ points above a score of 100, a participant was "38 percent more likely than average to have voted in the United Kingdom's 2001 election." In addition, "[p]eople who took part in a political meeting or rally in the last year, those who took part in a public demonstration, those who signed a petition, and those who were fairly or very interested in politics had higher mean intelligence test scores at age 10." But did IQ make any difference in which way people voted? Any mention of this question in the past has usually been enough to incite a frothing frenzy. Here's how ABC News summarized the latest findings:
"Childhood intelligence is associated with...support for political ideologies that are based on ecological sustainability and social liberalism," conclude the Intelligence study authors. For example, voters were 32 percent more likely to vote for the UK's more left-wing Liberal party over the Conservative party for every 15 IQ points they scored above average as children. They were more likely to be tree-huggers too, voting more often for environment-oriented parties.
So the smarter you are, the more you like trees—we report, you decide. Related: RB: Election 2008: Everything You Need to Know to Avoid Being Disenfranchised RB: Voting in America: Let the Pre-Game Mess Begin! RB: Voting in America, Redux: You Can’t Vote Here, But You Can Vote in Space
