Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, writes:
Apropos the conservatism and “stupidity” issue, you may find interesting the attached data from my analysis of the 2000 National Election Study (the NES is the most comprehensive US survey of political attitudes and knowledge, which breaks down political knowledge by strength of party affiliation. Note that “Strong Republicans” have much higher political knowledge levels than any other group. The 3.3 gap on a 31 point scale between “Strong Republicans” and “Strong Democrats” may not seem like much, but it is the equivalent of that created by a difference of SEVERAL YEARS of formal education.
Now I note that political knowledge is not the same thing as intelligence (indeed, I have to caution people on this every time I present one of my papers on political ignorance), but I think lack of knowledge is often what people have in mind when they attack conservatives as “stupid.”
I also note that I am not suggesting that people become Republicans BECAUSE they are more knowledgeable. The knowledge gap may simply be an artifact of the fact that highly educated, high income people, are disproportionately likely to be Republicans. Still, it is simply false to say that conservative Republicans are more likely to be politically ignorant than liberal Democrats. The opposite is in fact the case, though independents are on average far more ignorant than either group.
Another irony: the British Conservative Party that Mill was attacking in the 1860s had at least as much in common with modern liberals as with modern Conservatives. For instance, the Conservative leader Benjamin Disraeli invented the “two Nations” mantra that John Edwards has transmogrified into “Two Americas.” 1860s Conservatives were also supporters of workplace regulation and protectionism, though on some other issues (e.g. – imperialism) they did differ from modern liberals.
Here’s the table that Ilya attached:
Table 2.5
Political Knowledge by Strength of Party Identification
2000 National Election Study
Self-Described Party Alignment / Average Political Knowledge Score
(Average number of correct answers on 31 point scale)“Strong Republican” / 18.7
“Independent-Republican” / 15.7
“Strong Democrat” / 15.4
“Independent-Democrat” / 14.2
“Weak Republican” / 14.1
“Weak Democrat” / 13.3
“Independent-Independent” / 9.5
I can’t independently vouch for this, and of course (as Somin would doubtless agree) there are all sorts of other possible explanations here: For instance, it may be that in 2000 Strong Republicans were more politically energized than Strong Democrats because of their opposition to the incumbent President Clinton. I surely won’t claim much Republican superiority based on this. But I do think that it’s a helpful response to claims of conservative stupidity, claims that are often made but rarely supported.
UPDATE: See here for more data, from Northwestern lawprof Jim Lindgren via InstaPundit. Again, I stress that I am not claiming Republican superiority, for the reasons that Somin, Lindgren, and I have pointed out. But it does further highlight that “conservative are stupid” claims usually rest simply on the speaker’s unstated premise that “stupid = disagrees with me on politics.”
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