Are Dem voters intellectually and emotionally smarter than Republican voters?

[Cyrano]

I don’t know if any scientific research has ever been done on this topic. And I’m not talking about any specific Dem compared to any specific Republican. I’m talking about the majority of voters of both parties.

And my personal observations lead me to believe that Dems are smarter.

It can be argued that by “smarter” I mean we Dems are more empathetic about our fellow human beings. And that Republican voters have more albinos on their porches playing banjos, or Gordon Gekkos proclaiming that “Greed is good.” These stereotypes may or may not be valid.

I believe that, in general, average Republican voters are more gullible, or religiously zealous, or, in many cases, more bigoted than most Americans. This is my (unscientific) opinion based on personal observations.

But my original question stands. Are Dem voters more intellectually and emotionally smarter than Republican voters? What’s your opinion?

[saltpoint]

1. Well hell yes we are. We're better in the sack, too.

[TwilightGardener]

5. LOL! I think Dems in general are more likely to DO IT in the sack--

as opposed to, say, airport bathrooms or backseats of cars (Gingrich, anyone?)--that alone makes us superior!

[saltpoint]

9. Beds work for me. Definitely.

Good morning, wienerdoggie.

Happy September.

[TwilightGardener]

15. Good morning, OC--

:hi:

[ruggerson]

2. Yes

and we're generally multi dimensional human beings.

[Richard Steele]

3. Yup. And we're prettier, too. It's a fact. nm

[Demeter]

4. Less Mentally Ill, For Sure!

I think that mental illness and its subsets are the defining feature of belonging to the GOP. You have to be crazy or a psychopath to support the agenda.

[pscot]

6. Word

n/t

[Mrs. Overall]

7. Well, looking at my family, for instance: only a few of us have gone to college

and we are the Democrats in the family. The majority of my family are either high school dropouts or barely finished high school and all of them are Republican. It's split exactly down the education line.

At family gatherings, these Republicans say some of the most incredibly prejudiced things against Blacks, Gays, Jews, Mexicans, Asians, Native Americans, Muslims. And of course, they are all fundamentalist Christians.

I usually have to "debrief" with my kids after they have been around the family Republicans for an afternoon.

[DemGa]

8. Has any higher form of art ever emanated from a conservative mind?

I doubt this could be true. Republicans are very left-brained individuals; conceptual thought eludes them.

[Mrs. Overall]

11. I am in a group of local writers and only one of us was a Republican--we had to kick her out

of our writing/marketing group because she began to mass email us Jesus stuff, pro-Iraq war stuff, and pro-Bush stuff.

Her writing consisted of sappy poetry and essays about what a wonderful leader Bush is and how he and Jesus are saving the planet.

Except for her local church bulletin, none of her work has been published by literary journals.

On Edit: Sorry that this post sounds so uppity and snarky, but I just keep running across intelligent Democrats and small-minded, boxed-in Republicans. I'm sure there are exceptions out there. I'm just referencing my own experience with both family and friends.

[Sadie4629]

10. I would say

that you shouldn't generalize about any group of people. I've known plenty of smart Republicans, and quite a few dumb Democrats.

[mwb970]

14. Well, but men tend to be taller than women.

Despite the existence of numerous short men and tall women.

[sam sarrha]

12. clever stealing elections isnt smarter.. they are angry and anger causes you to lose 20 IQ points

because of the adrenaline reaction on veins, it slows the flow of blood to the brain, want to win an argument, stay calm and piss them off.

[TripleD]

13. Yes

Researchers help define what makes a political conservative

By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations | 22 July 2003 (revised 7/25/03)

BERKELEY – Politically conservative agendas may range from supporting the Vietnam War to upholding traditional moral and religious values to opposing welfare. But are there consistent underlying motivations?

Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management

"From our perspective, these psychological factors are capable of contributing to the adoption of conservative ideological contents, either independently or in combination," the researchers wrote in an article, "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," recently published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin.

//

Although they concluded that conservatives are less "integratively complex" than others are, Glaser said, "it doesn't mean that they're simple-minded."

Conservatives don't feel the need to jump through complex, intellectual hoops in order to understand or justify some of their positions, he said. "They are more comfortable seeing and stating things in black and white in ways that would make liberals squirm," Glaser said.

//



http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/22_politics.shtml

[stillcool]

16. Why is everything us vs. them?

I mean, haven't we all been conned....regardless of which line of bullshit we've fallen for?

[cobalt1999]

17. I used to think so when I was younger.

I'm friends with some extremely intelligent Republican engineers, business men, and teachers. The Republicans do get saddled with the Fundamentalist Creationists. However, we have the New Agers and 9/11 conspiracy folks, so I that keeps me from getting too cocky about the gullibility and intelligence of some Democrats.

[Kahuna]

18. No. Their guys win more than ours. How can you ask that question.

They know how to pick and package winners.