Viewpoint: Why are the less intelligent more likely to be conservative—and smarter people more socially liberal? Aporia | September 18, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/09/18/viewpoint-why-are-the-less-intelligent-more-likely-to-be-conservative-and-smarter-people-more-socially-liberal/ Smarter people tend to be more socially liberal — less racist, less homophobic, less nationalistic, more supportive of free speech and immigration — and the pattern shows up in study after study, according to a deep dive by Aporia Magazine’s Noah Carl. The observation isn’t new: in an 1866 House of Commons debate, after a Conservative MP accused his party of being “the stupidest party in the State,” the philosopher and Liberal MP John Stuart Mill shot back: “I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant that stupid persons are generally Conservative.”