New study links low I.Q. with racism and conservatism

[LeftishBrit]

10. My guess is that the common factor here is education.

There is an association, in both directions, between IQ and education (people with higher IQs are more likely to choose and to be accepted for high levels of education, and education helps to increase measurable intelligence).

There have been studies that show that highly educated people are less racist and more socially liberal.

Education probably makes people less accepting of highly authoritarian views - which is why people like Santorum are suspicious of college education. It is perfectly possible to be highly educated and still hard-right, but it is not extremely common. Nick Griffin is a Cambridge graduate, but most of his followers in the BNP probably aren't.

I doubt that it's a simple matter of 'you have to be thick to be far-right', tempting as it is to think so.