The data from twin studies and intrafamily correlations suggest that their political beliefs would change substantially, but their partisan affiliation not so much. This would change policy by changing what wins primaries in parties, and what parties fight over vs agree on.
That isn’t especially related to my original point, because it seems specific to the current structure of U.S. politics; it’s not very applicable to countries that don’t have a few large long-lived political parties. For instance, in Israel, many people were born before the establishment of the state, and no party has survived since then.
We need to look at aspects of U.S. political belief to make good U.S.-specific predictions. And in that, you are surely better informed than I am. So I accept your conclusion that in that context, intelligence is causative of rational and of moderate beliefs. But the specific reasons and dynamics that lead to that seem highly contigent.
Yes, the first-past-the-post geographical constituency system has quite different effects on partisan structure than many other electoral systems, and other countries have more fluid partisan identity.
“So I accept your conclusion that in that context, intelligence is causative of rational and of moderate beliefs.”
I think the belief point holds much more broadly. Similar studies have been done with data about other political beliefs from European countries, e.g. by people in Deary’s lab in the U.K.
The data from twin studies and intrafamily correlations suggest that their political beliefs would change substantially, but their partisan affiliation not so much. This would change policy by changing what wins primaries in parties, and what parties fight over vs agree on.
That isn’t especially related to my original point, because it seems specific to the current structure of U.S. politics; it’s not very applicable to countries that don’t have a few large long-lived political parties. For instance, in Israel, many people were born before the establishment of the state, and no party has survived since then.
We need to look at aspects of U.S. political belief to make good U.S.-specific predictions. And in that, you are surely better informed than I am. So I accept your conclusion that in that context, intelligence is causative of rational and of moderate beliefs. But the specific reasons and dynamics that lead to that seem highly contigent.
Yes, the first-past-the-post geographical constituency system has quite different effects on partisan structure than many other electoral systems, and other countries have more fluid partisan identity.
“So I accept your conclusion that in that context, intelligence is causative of rational and of moderate beliefs.”
I think the belief point holds much more broadly. Similar studies have been done with data about other political beliefs from European countries, e.g. by people in Deary’s lab in the U.K.