IQ Scores of Republican/Democratic Politicans
June 24th, 2008 Posted in Mitt Romney
The IQ scores below (unless otherwise stated) are estimates.
2008 Republican Nominees:
- John McCain 133 {confirmed}
- Mitt Romney 122
- Mike Huckabee 110-125
- Ron Paul 130 -140
- Duncan Hunter 120-130
- Fred Thompson 123
- Rudy Giuliani 123
2008 Democratic Nominee’s:
- Barack Obama 130-148
- Hillary Clinton 140 {confirmed}
- John Edwards 124
- Mike Gravel 115-122
- Dennis Kucinich 116-126
- Bill Richardson 124-133
Former Presidents Of The United States:
- Ronald Reagan 105
- Benjamin Franklin 160
- George W. Bush 138
- Dwight D. Eisenhower 122
- Franklin D. Roosevelt 147
- George H.W. Bush 132
- George Washington 118
- John F. Kennedy 119
- Jimmy Carter 156
- John Q. Adams 175
- Richard M. Nixon 155
- Bill Clinton 159
- Al Gore 134
- Abraham Lincoln 150
It’s a nice, neat thing to know about people but having a high IQ score is not all of it. You have to have character and humility. You don’t want to be smart and be like Christopher Langan - 195:
June 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
These numbers don’t look very accurate at all, especially those of Mitt and George H.W. Bush which seem pretty low, and most of all Jimmy Carter who I find a highly dubious possibility of being one of the most intelligent presidents. The man came across as dumb, and not just for his policies.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Considering there wasn’t even an IQ test until 1916 I wouldn’t believe these numbers at all.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
You will notice only John McCain’s and Hillary Clinton’s as ‘confirmed’. The rest are estimates; I believed everybody would have caught on. My mistake.
I haven’t been able to locate any other IQ numbers, I’ll try later on today.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Arnold Schwarzenegger?
June 24th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
And Benjamin Franklin, Al Gore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are not “former presidents.”
June 24th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Steve, I wasn’t blaming you for the numbers, you provided the link where you got them. I’m just questioning the validity of the numbers. Its certainly an interesting subject.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Bigmo:
Found a really good website now and am updating the numbers
June 25th, 2008 at 2:17 am
Estimates based on what? How could you possibly estimate an IQ score outside-in? Perhaps a range (e.g. >100) is reasonable, but to estimate with any precision seems pretty unlikely.
June 25th, 2008 at 2:55 am
How are the estimates for famous people made?
The main source for the estimates is a study made by a group of psychologists at Stanford University, California. Its origin is from 1926, but it has been revised a couple of times. The last time, is by Dr. Catherine Morris Cox in The Mind, Life Science Library Series, 1964.
The rest is from various sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, Guinness Book of Records, Popular Science (Swedish magazine), Daily News (Swedish newspaper), professors in Mathematics, a comparing study between the geniuses of their centuries in Mensa Research Journal, Buzan, etc.
The estimates are what they are - just estimates. They can’t of course be justified.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’m sorry, but McCain graduated at the bottom of his class, and he does not appear terribly bright to me. I don’t know what IQ test he was taking, but it certainly wasn’t a very accurate one.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Leslie:
In military school. You’ve been mislead, McCain is an intelligent man. It would look like Romney would be smarter but it’s just the way Governor Romney carries himself.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I think its that Mitt keeps his mind open to new information and has a thirst for knowledge, whereas McCain thinks he knows everything that he needs to know and if some fact comes along and contradicts what he already knows in his gut, it must be wrong.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Anyway, this has been an interesting topic Steve. Thanks for sharing the info. A fine example of the point you were making would be to compare Reagon, who had pretty much an average IQ but was a great man and used common sense principles to a Clinton or Nixon who were techinically more intelligent but did a relatively poor job running the country (compared to Reagan). I’m still a bit confused at Carter. Are you sure that number is accurate? He would be basically a genius and this is the peanut farming nitwit who ran the U.S. economy into the ground and thinks the way to peace is by giving our enemies whatever they want whenever they want it. He also never came across like Obama does to me, as intelligent but unwise. He just seemed plain old dumb but just slick enough to get by. At least he seemed that way to me.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Yeah, leaders are always willing to grow.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I am dumbfounded as well. I remember reading somewhere that the Stanford Binet or any IQ test for that matter is measuring the ability to solve problems not measure intelligence. I don’t know for sure but nonetheless interesting topic as you said.
Reagan is and was Right!
June 25th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Maybe he copied off the person sitting next to him during the test…ha.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Haha I can imagine it. Psh psh, whats #3? But who knows, I prefer Governor Romney’s intelligence than McCain’s. What do you think yours is Bigmo?
June 25th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Some of the I.Q. estimates are God awful. Mitt Romney was an honors grad from Harvard during the time it became much more meritocratic. I wrote to Steve Sailer about Romney’s I.Q. way back during the primary (he figured out Kerry’s and Bush’s; Tom Brokaw brought up Sailer’s research to Kerry in ‘04). He said it would have to be “extremely high”. According to the “Bell Curve”, Harvard students have I.Q.s in the top 1% (minimum score of 132, I believe). It wasn’t always this way and I don’t know where on the spectrum Harvard students were at the time Romney attended, but it would have been extremely high. And, if I remember correctly, he was a double major. I.Q. is one of the best predictors of outcome on a host of subjects (controlling for culture is extremely important when talking about criminality and social ills): criminality, income, health, etc. There is much in his life, particularly his earned wealth and good, successful kids, that demonstrate he is an uncommonly intelligent man. If anyone is interested in learning more about I.Q. and its role in our everyday lives and world, I suggest reading Charles Murray (who has a book on education coming out soon), Linda Gottfredson, and Steve Sailer.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Steve - I was tested when I went into the GATE program. I ran into my teacher a few years ago and she told me it was 165. Not that I’ve done much with it.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Pretty neat Bigmo, I don’t think I’ll ever get a high or accurate IQ due to the fact that a large part of an IQ test is mathematical problems. I’m more of a Dennis Miller, intellectually gifted in using the English language. So the left hemisphere of my brain is the dominant one.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Same here Steve, good thing that they hit me up when I was younger; I’ve forgotten most of my algebra and that’s what most IQ tests seem to consist of. I don’t remember that one too well but it also involved critical thinking and finding complex patterns. Dennis is awesome. Its a shame he got so caught up with Rudy during the primaries, he would have been a big help advocating the Mittness to the public.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I’m sure he’ll support Mitt in 2012 if Mitt isn’t on the ticket this year. James Woods IQ of 180, also supported Rudy.
The chasm grows when you get older because you know what you’re good at. When you’re young you’re good at math and english. Oh how things change!
June 27th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Ben Franklin was POTUS?
June 27th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
No, I made a mistake Carolina. Thanks for pointing that out