
Trump Supporters Score Higher on Verbal Ability Tests - hirundo
https://reason.com/2020/01/30/trump-supporters-verbal-ability/
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quink
I picked three of those questions and had a look at the actual data on the GSS
Data Explorer:

[https://imgur.com/1tL4cPt](https://imgur.com/1tL4cPt)

[https://imgur.com/PhbXNqG](https://imgur.com/PhbXNqG)

[https://imgur.com/3efeYtU](https://imgur.com/3efeYtU)

Let's just say it's very difficult to draw the same conclusions as this
article here - small sample size, inconsistent results, etc.

The actual results I found for EARTHSUN's choices "Earth around sun" and "Sun
around earth" are 76.5% correct for the Clinton camp and 76.7% correct for the
Trump camp. Technically still in line with one conclusion of that article, but
a single respondee answering differently would have changed that outcome.

~~~
verdverm
I think the author's hypothesis is

> Even without looking at the data, it would be surprising if there were any
> VERY LARGE differences in intelligence between the average Trump supporter
> and the rest of the general public.

Which the data does seem to suggest. The sample size is sufficient for
statistical significance, though I would say the difference in intelligence is
not likely significant

Which gets back to the author's point, that the perception espoused by CNN
anchors, claiming Trump supporters are significantly less intelligent, is
incorrect.

> In this essay, I analyzed the results of over 30 questions from 22 different
> representative national surveys, involving over 20,000 respondents. Not one
> of the questions I examined here supports the idea that Trump supporters are
> significantly less knowledgeable than Clinton supporters, and some of them
> point to small or moderate differences in the opposite direction. The idea
> that there are very large differences in intelligence or knowledge here is
> implausible without strong evidence.

~~~
SlowRobotAhead
What's sad is this SHOULD BE OBVIOUS to anyone that's be emotionally detached
from politics. It's the same people on both sides, just tribalism skews that
the other side must be idiots.

I don't think the people opposite from me are stupid, just a different
viewpoint than my own. That viewpoint comes from their experiences and their
environment that is different than mine, that's totally fine, until they
insist that I need to live like they do.

