Comments on: IQ Scores of Republican/Democratic Politicans

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:49:21 +0000

No, I made a mistake Carolina. Thanks for pointing that out

By: Carolina

Carolina — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:45:31 +0000

Ben Franklin was POTUS?

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:13:32 +0000

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!

By: bigmo

bigmo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:57:18 +0000

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.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:34:00 +0000

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.

By: bigmo

bigmo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:24:53 +0000

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.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:47:06 +0000

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.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:19:26 +0000

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?

By: bigmo

bigmo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:02:48 +0000

Maybe he copied off the person sitting next to him during the test…ha.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:59:03 +0000

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!

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:52:43 +0000

Yeah, leaders are always willing to grow.

By: bigmo

bigmo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:45:02 +0000

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.

By: bigmo

bigmo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:31:54 +0000

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.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:05:59 +0000

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.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:46:01 +0000

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.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:55:22 +0000

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.

By: David Kim

David Kim — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:17:51 +0000

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.

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:36:26 +0000

Bigmo:

Found a really good website now and am updating the numbers

By: bigmo

bigmo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:23:42 +0000

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.

By: JonB

JonB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:10:51 +0000

And Benjamin Franklin, Al Gore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are not “former presidents.”

By: Duke of Earl Grey

Duke of Earl Grey — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:54:25 +0000

Arnold Schwarzenegger?

By: Steve Andrew

Steve Andrew — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:45:05 +0000

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.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:30:30 +0000

Considering there wasn’t even an IQ test until 1916 I wouldn’t believe these numbers at all.

By: bigmo

bigmo — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:20:59 +0000

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.