"The study identified the participants across a spectrum ranging from strongly Republican to strongly Democrat with Independents in the middle. It also measured a subgroup comprised entirely of white participants to eliminate the factor of race. The results showed that Republicans had a higher IQ score than Democrats.

The study used four measurements to determine the cognitive abilities of the participants. The first was a ten word vocabulary test to measure the verbal intelligence. A test of probability knowledge, and verbal reasoning was also used. Lastly, the test givers asked each participant of the tests how well they understood the questions.

The result was that those who identified themselves as conservative Republicans scored higher on the test, indicating a higher intelligence over liberal Democrats.

Noah Carl reasoned that Conservatives did better on the test partly in part due to their socio-economical positions in society. Those that have better socio- economical positions in society tend to identify themselves as Republicans.

These findings were consistent with a previous study that Carl did entitled, “Verbal Intelligence is Correlated with Socially and Economically Liberal Beliefs.” In that study, those who voted as Republicans had a slightly higher verbal intelligence than their counterparts on the other side of the aisle.

Carl did note a difference in two types of Republicans. A socially conservative Republican (pro- life, anti- gay marriage, pro- gun rights) scored lower on the test than the classically liberal Republican (pro- small government, maximum personal freedom, and maximum personal responsibility). However, the two Republican groups combined still scored higher than the liberal Democrat."

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289614001081).