Based on IQ, have we moved from the dumbest president ever, to the smartest?

[rockhound]

No one ever accused Obama of being an intellectual genius, and because of the fear of racism label being applied to anyone that said so, he was never openly mocked for his intellect.  But the long list of his errors in basic speaking, knowing the number of states, etc, make it clear that he is actually not very bright.

Trump on the other hand, has an IQ likely over 150, making him one of the brightest ever.  Maybe not Thomas Jefferson level, but certainly up there.

I suspect the white house staff that remains will likely be in for a surprising change of culture.

[rockhound]

http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2015/08/donald-trump-is-a-genius-but-thats-just-his-iq-3038790.html

[TJ in Oregon]

What is it with partisans arguing not that their side is right but that their side is smarter?

[MIKESOWELL]

I've never hear anyone accuse Barack Obama, a constitutional scholar of all things as being "dumb." That 57 state comment, came at the end of an exhausting campaign swing. Virtually everyone makes verbal errors if you speak long enough. Anyway, weren't people calling George W. Bush, a man with a 117 IQ, a retard? People have some nerve. Anyway, this thread is potentially racist, as it suggests that Obama is some affirmative action helped lightweight who solely got by,by having the "gift of gab" despite a low IQ, sort of the accusations that I used to hear about Muhammad Ali.

[MIKESOWELL]

By the way, this IQ stuff is overrated. Jimmy Carter's IQ would run laps around Ronald Reagan's, but yet history would suggest that Reagan was a far more effective president than Carter.

[Person Man]

Yeah. That this thread is just an Alt-Right battle rag.

[Alcon]

This is some serious hilara-garbage.  I like how he just vaguely states that he knows from "Wharton admission requirements" what Trump's IQ is.  I assume he found the average SAT for Wharton admissions, or something, and correlated that to IQ tests.  But I have no idea, since he doesn't even bother to explain the methodology behind his most crucial claim in the article.  He then goes on to babble a bunch about Maslow's concept of self-actualization, which has absolutely nothing to do IQ or anything, besides the fact that the author and his wife seem to like the idea that Trump is a "self-actualizing man" or something.  This is total trash, and the sort of thing for which the Goldwater Rule was created.

FWIW:  I think Trump is a pretty irrational and disorganized thinker, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has a reasonably high IQ.  I very much doubt Obama has a low one.

What is it with partisans arguing not that their side is right but that their side is smarter?

It's simple, TJ.  People who agree with us ideologically, for some unexplained reason, happen to have a bunch of favorable personality traits, even though there's no logical reason to assume they'd have any association with ideology.  People who agree with my beliefs are more likely to be smart, honest, clean, and they always return their library books on time.  I know this because I notice people I don't like having bad traits all the time!

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

No one ever accused Obama of being an intellectual genius, and because of the fear of racism label being applied to anyone that said so, he was never openly mocked for his intellect.  But the long list of his errors in basic speaking, knowing the number of states, etc, make it clear that he is actually not very bright.

Trump on the other hand, has an IQ likely over 150, making him one of the brightest ever.  Maybe not Thomas Jefferson level, but certainly up there.

I suspect the white house staff that remains will likely be in for a surprising change of culture.

Another right wing liar. Obama misspoke, of course he knows the number of states.

[RI]

A) IQ is a terrible way of measuring "intelligence"

B) Obama is clearly a very, very intelligent person

C) Intelligence is not particularly correlated with success as President

D) The ability to orate is not particularly correlated with intelligence

E) Momentary acts of misspeaking are not particularly correlated with intelligence

F) Who cares?

[Alcon]

A) IQ is a terrible way of measuring "intelligence"

I agree with all of the rest of your post, but in what sense is IQ a terrible measure of intelligence?  IQ obviously and strongly correlates with skill at certain sorts of cognitive tasks, and also has an impressive number of secondary correlations to outcomes.  I realize that IQ attempts to describe particular sorts of intelligence, but it's not like it measures stuff that's obscure or impractical.  So why "terrible"?

I think that IQ is a terrible measure of intellectual honesty -- cognitively adept people are often some of the most skilled rationalizers -- but I don't think that's what most people mean when they talk about "intelligence."

[Hermit For Peace]

A) IQ is a terrible way of measuring "intelligence"

B) Obama is clearly a very, very intelligent person

C) Intelligence is not particularly correlated with success as President

D) The ability to orate is not particularly correlated with intelligence

E) Momentary acts of misspeaking are not particularly correlated with intelligence

F) Who cares?

Nice.

[pbrower2a]

No one ever accused Obama of being an intellectual genius, and because of the fear of racism label being applied to anyone that said so, he was never openly mocked for his intellect.  But the long list of his errors in basic speaking, knowing the number of states, etc, make it clear that he is actually not very bright.

Trump on the other hand, has an IQ likely over 150, making him one of the brightest ever.  Maybe not Thomas Jefferson level, but certainly up there.

I suspect the white house staff that remains will likely be in for a surprising change of culture.

In view of the elementary-level rhetoric (OK, I don't expect people to have discourse on the level of Scientific American in speeches to mass audiences) and little evidence of ever writing anything on a genius level as I would expect of an editor of the Harvard Law Review, I see little reason to believe that he is much above average intellectually.

That he is a successful businessman? You would be surprised how little intelligence is necessary to parlay a small investment into a giant enterprise. Did anyone ever say that Harland Sanders (Kentucky Fried Chicken) or Dave Thomas (Wendy's) were geniuses? I am not impressed by his business acumen in view of his failures. Property leasing is one of the simplest models of business possible.

Of course, genius is not necessary for good political leadership (love him or hate him, Ronald Reagan was not a great brain), and it does not guarantee excellent leadership (possible extreme counter-example to the  idea that genius makes a great leader: Vidkun Quisling)

Of course I expect Donald Trump to be a dreadful President, but I will attribute that to personal qualities not related to raw intelligence. By most accounts, Ted "Unabom" Kaczynski is a brilliant man.

[Kingpoleon]

When I saw this, I thought it said "smartest to dumbest," and I thought, "Oh great, a partisan Democrat starting up the Atlas hive mind where everyone calls Trump an idiot and Obama a genius."

Instead, it's a partisan idiot Republican.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

OK, this was pretty funny. Mods, pls don't delete.

What is it with partisans arguing not that their side is right but that their side is smarter?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_IQ_hoax

[Pessimistic Antineutrino]

Obama's IQ exceeds 140 IIRC.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I'm no Obama fan, but the idea that he's the dumbest President is just laughable. You really think that Obama is dumber than Ford?

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Is this a question from 2008? Obama's policies suck but he's far from being the dumbest president.

[Blue3]

What in the world?

Obama has to be one of the most intelligent presidents in US history.

[Indy Texas]

I've never hear anyone accuse Barack Obama, a constitutional scholar of all things as being "dumb." That 57 state comment, came at the end of an exhausting campaign swing. Virtually everyone makes verbal errors if you speak long enough. Anyway, weren't people calling George W. Bush, a man with a 117 IQ, a retard? People have some nerve. Anyway, this thread is potentially racist, as it suggests that Obama is some affirmative action helped lightweight who solely got by,by having the "gift of gab" despite a low IQ, sort of the accusations that I used to hear about Muhammad Ali.

IIRC he was referring to the Democratic primaries, which included 57 contests when you take DC and the territories into account.

Regardless, the fact that that is always the comment people refer to when trying to prove that "Obama says dumb stuff too" just proves the point - he misspeaks so rarely that there is nothing else to point to.

[Pericles]

What the hell is this?!

I would accuse Obama of being an intellectual genius, or close to it. This is a smart person, maybe not always right, but intelligent and not dumb. Donald Trump and smart are not words I would put in the same sentence, maybe I'm wrong but I don't associate Donald Trump with intellectual genius.

[ProudModerate2]

LMAO.
You got it mixed-up there.

[Meclazine for Israel]

No.

I have to give Obama the nod on this occasion.

Trump is a few Mb short of a Gb compared to Obama.

But Trump may go down as a political genius given the astonishing nature of his win.

[President Johnson]

Wut? Obama is one of the smartest guys ever to hold the office.

[Ljube]

Trump is a political genius. I don't think there is any dispute about that any more.

He annihilated all opposition in his party. Even though they were very experienced and he was not.

But his best achievemnt is beating the most experienced person ever to run for the office of President and beat her in her own game.

[Wells]

Obama's 57 States gaffe wasn't wrong.