Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice
http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html
This is actually an interesting report that, while likely incendiary to those in the right-wing, should non-the-less be considered. The article makes several caveats, the most notable below:
A study of averages
Hodson was quick to note that the despite the link found between low intelligence and social conservatism, the researchers aren’t implying that all liberals are brilliant and all conservatives stupid. The research is a study of averages over large groups, he said.
“There are multiple examples of very bright conservatives and not-so-bright liberals, and many examples of very principled conservatives and very intolerant liberals,” Hodson said.
Nosek gave another example to illustrate the dangers of taking the findings too literally.
“We can say definitively men are taller than women on average,” he said. “But you can’t say if you take a random man and you take a random woman that the man is going to be taller. There’s plenty of overlap.”
Nonetheless, there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world.
“Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order,” Hodson said, explaining why these beliefs might draw those with low intelligence. “Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice.”
They also pointed out that the liberal view had its own series of problems and I have read other articles that show liberals were just as likely to be racist as conservatives in their actions (though not in their words, meaning they were just as likely to send their children to same-race schools and live in same-race neighborhoods). The conclusion seems to me that people who dislike change (either philosophically or because their mental constitution makes change challenging to them) were more likely to be conservative and those traits were also present in a higher proportion of people with lower IQs.
On the other hand, perhaps, because this appears to be a British thing, it might be totally ignored on our side of the pond.
I have no opinion on any relationship between IQ and conservatism (except to know that it isn’t 100% given), but I would say that resistance to change defines one facet of conservatism.
I think you might have hit the nail on the head and their results might be correlation rather than causation.