Yes World, American Voters Are Really Dumb

By James Donahue

After American voters re-elected George W. Bush to a second term in office in 2004, the front page of the Daily Mirror in London asked on its front page: “How Can 59,054,087 People Be So Dumb?”

Was it true? At the time we decided to research the general intelligence of the American people on a state-by-state basis, and compare the results with the election outcome.

Essays and books have been written in recent years concerning what many educators and intellectuals believe has been a deliberate “dumbing down of America,” but until the election, and finding a published study of average intelligence of Americans by state, we didn’t believe the problem was as severe as it is.

There recently appeared a chart that indicated an average intelligence quota per state that claims the states with people of lower average IQ chose Bush. The states with higher average IQs leaned toward the Democrat, John Kerry. It claimed that the average IQ in America is 98, far lower than I realized.

Was the data on the chart accurate?

From IQ data taken from a book by university professors Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen called “IQ and the Wealth of Nations” and a website that showed IQ data calculated from state SAT and ACT scores, there is an indication that this, indeed, is the average level of intellect in the US.

Just to give you some concept of what this “average” IQ of 98 means in national thought patterns we have to explain that the vast majority of people In the United States test at this level.  This gives them the capability of being general laborers for the rest of the world, but not much better. It also helps explain how people can be so beguiled by false television media reports and advertising claims, and why enough money spent on propaganda can win elections for the wrong candidate.

People testing lower than an 80 IQ are regarded as “low average,” and those under 70 are considered retarded. People testing 110 to 130 are considered superior in intelligence. Above that is the genius category.

The chart below offered a breakdown that correlated IQs and incomes in each state, and someone took the trouble after the election to tag on how the state voted for the two presidential candidates. Thus we have a chart with a relatively correct assessment of average intellect of the voters by each state.

It seems that the smartest people in the nation live in New Hampshire, where they score at 104, and Oregon, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, where they test average at 103. All four states, by the way, supported Kerry.

The lowest IQ scores were rated at 94 in both Mississippi and South Carolina. These states both went for Bush.

Of these, 17 of the 35 states averaging an IQ of 100 or more voted for Kerry. Three of the 16 states on the bottom of the rung voted for Kerry. The rest of them swung to Bush with flags waving from the windows and bumpers of their cars.

Thus the conclusion can be reached that states where people averaged a higher intelligence level supported Kerry.

According to international IQ charts, the United States rates 18 behind other nations in average intellectual levels. At the top is Hong Kong at 107; South Korea, 106; Japan, 105; Taiwan and Singapore, 104; Austria, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands, 102; Sweden and Switzerland at 101; Belgium, China, New Zealand and the United Kingdom at 100; Hungary, Poland and Spain at 99.

According to the Mensa IQ group, these numbers are not bad, although they could be much better, especially in the United States where educational opportunities were once touted as among the best, and our universities excelled for years. Education in America took a beating, however, during the Bush years after Mr. Bush introduced his infamous “no child left behind” policy. It forced teachers to prepare students to pass federal tests rather than teach them anything. Thus the general IQ range of Americans may have slipped a few notches since 2004. It may be a few years before the full extent of the damage will be learned.

People in the IQ range of 90 to 110 are considered good learners and hands-on people well adapted for public service jobs. They make good secretaries, bank tellers, police officers, machinists and sales clerks. That just about describes the American people today. Where are the artists, the writers, the great mathematicians, inventors? We are not producing them anymore.

Remember that these numbers are “average,” which means that some are much lower, while others are higher. People at 70 to 80 IQ are thought of as slow, simple-minded individuals that need supervision just to function. Those at 120 and above are the creative ones, the leaders.

The bottom line to all of this is that Americans are falling behind. Either we are producing dumber people, or something has gone very wrong with our education system. The masses are turning out to be bungling idiots, content on their menial 9-5 job, their nightly ration of beer and Saturday afternoon football. They will raise the flag and go to war when the leaders tell them to, and they won’t question the order.

The big business interests have got people right where they want them. They have turned Americans into a nation of slaves, content to work for minimum wages with no benefits so the wealthy landowners get even richer.

The people who voted for Bush are most likely the low wage earners, with sons and daughters off fighting an unjust war, struggling to make ends meet, and desperate for health benefits promised but that they will never have again.

What is worse, they lack the intelligence to understand their plight.

*Income per person in 2003 is from http://www.bea.doc.gov