Claim: Chart shows relationship between 2004 electoral vote result and voter IQ.
Example:[Collected on the Internet, 2004]
State
Avg. IQ
2004
1
Connecticut
113
Kerry
2
Massachusetts
111
Kerry
3
New Jersey
111
Kerry
4
New York
109
Kerry
5
Rhode Island
107
Kerry
6
Hawaii
106
Kerry
7
Maryland
105
Kerry
8
New Hampshire
105
Kerry
9
Illinois
104
Kerry
10
Delaware
103
Kerry
11
Minnesota
102
Kerry
12
Vermont
102
Kerry
13
Washington
102
Kerry
14
California
101
Kerry
15
Pennsylvania
101
Kerry
16
Maine
100
Kerry
17
Virginia
100
Bush
18
Wisconsin
100
Kerry
19
Colorado
99
Bush
20
Iowa
99
Bush
21
Michigan
99
Kerry
22
Nevada
99
Bush
23
Ohio
99
Bush
24
Oregon
99
Kerry
25
Alaska
98
Bush
26
Florida
98
Bush
27
Missouri
98
Bush
28
Kansas
96
Bush
29
Nebraska
95
Bush
30
Arizona
94
Bush
31
Indiana
94
Bush
32
Tennessee
94
Bush
33
North Carolina
93
Bush
34
West Virginia
93
Bush
35
Arkansas
92
Bush
36
Georgia
92
Bush
37
Kentucky
92
Bush
38
New Mexico
92
Bush
39
North Dakota
92
Bush
40
Texas
92
Bush
41
Alabama
90
Bush
42
Louisiana
90
Bush
43
Montana
90
Bush
44
Oklahoma
90
Bush
45
South Dakota
90
Bush
46
South Carolina
89
Bush
47
Wyoming
89
Bush
48
Idaho
87
Bush
49
Utah
87
Bush
50
Mississippi
85
Bush
The IQ numbers were originally attributed to the book 'IQ and the Wealth of Nations,' though they do not appear in the current edition. The tests and data were administered via the Raven's APT, and The Test Agency, one of the UK's leading publishers and distributors of psychometric tests. This data has been published in the Economist and the St. Petersburg Times, though this does not mean it should be taken as fact.
Origins: Some pranks are so good they keep working over and over again.
Back in November 2002, someone (using the name Robert Calvert) created and posted to a USENET newsgroup a phony chart which purportedly showed the average IQ per state in the U.S., along with the average income and a column indicating how that state voted in the 2000 presidential election. The gag was that all the states that voted for Vice-President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election were clustered at the top of the IQ scale, while all the states that voted for then-Texas Governor George W. Bush were clustered at the bottom.
The chart's creator claimed to have been inspired by the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations and to have drawn his IQ data from the Ravens APM, but — save for
the average income per state numbers, which were valid but outdated figures taken from the 1994 World Almanac — the chart was completely bogus. (The Ravens Advanced Progressive Matrices is not really a general intelligence test, nor do its publishers offer state-by-state test results data.) Nonetheless, a number of news publications (including the staid Economist) were taken in by the hoax — some mistakenly citing the information as having come from the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations, or even IQ and the Wealth of States — and published portions of the chart, and discussed it as if it were valid. (A similar hoax about presidential IQs produced similar media-fooling results back in 2001.)
Now, someone has dusted off the same chart and (omitting the economic data) applied it to the 2004 presidential election, keeping the primary gag intact: the "blue" (i.e., Democratic states) are all clustered at the top of the IQ scale, while the "red" (i.e., Republican) states are clustered at the bottom. Same hoax, different year. If 2008 produces another close presidential election as 2000 and 2004 did, expect to see this same joke again four years from now.
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