Those guys are Marginal Revolution already got to that Economist article:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/05/iq_hoax.html
Also, I was thinking of an endogeneity problem here. If you are in a state with
lots of marital and family value type problems, you are more likely to support
the republican platform that claims to solve these. If you are in
Massachusetts, you are less likely to know someone affected by these problems
and thus have little reason to put much weight on that when choosing a
candidate.
Regards,
Jason
Quoting William Dickens [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
Actually, the Economist ran an article a while back suggesting a strong
correlation between the average IQ in a state and the fraction voting
for Gore in 2000. Higher IQ people are more likely to marry and less
likely to divorce. They are also less likely to have kids out of
wedlock. Perhaps this explains what you are finding? - - Bill Dickens
Jason DeBacker [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/05/04 06:21PM
This doesn't agree with my prior, but a quick search turned up this:
http://www.divorcereform.org/94staterates.html Where 12 of the top 14
states
in
terms of low divorce rates were blue in 2000 and 2004 (with the
exception of
Iowa, this year)-- and 26 of the bottom 28 were red in 2000 and 2004
(with the
exception of New Mexico).
I don't know if it will explain away all the difference, but you can't
get
divorced unless you are married, and those that are married are more
likely to
be Republican. Also, if you have a child, you are more likely to be a
Republican and if you have an out of wedlock birth, you have a child
(and you
didn't have an abortion).
Older people are also more likely to be Republican, increasing the time
and
thus
the chances of having a marital problem or a unexpected pregnancy, as
long as
the probability of either is not zero for Republicans.
So the propensity of Democrats to get divorced or have an out of
wedlock birth
may be higher when you control for time married, age, and whether or
not you
have had a child.
Both divorce and out of wedlock childern are correlated with low
income, I'd
guess. Does anyone know if Democrats have higher incomes that
Republicans once
you control for age, race, religion, etc?
Regards,
Jason
