President Donald Trump has frequently used the phrase "low IQ" to insult some of his foes — particularly women and Black Americans. Trump has also touted what he claims to be his own high IQ, as well as that of his ally Elon Musk. A new YouGov poll asked Americans about their own IQs — and the IQs of 38 political figures, including Trump's. He ranks near the bottom in Americans' perceptions of politicians' IQs, as do some of the people whose IQ he has insulted, including Maxine Waters and Jasmine Crockett. Democrats and Republicans generally believe that members of their own party have higher IQs than do members of the opposing party.
About two-thirds (65%) of Americans think that IQ tests measure a person's intelligence somewhat well (52%) or very well (12%). 23% say IQ tests measure intelligence not very well or not at all well. Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to say IQ tests are a somewhat or very good measure of intelligence (73% vs. 64%).
42% of Americans have taken an IQ test. Far more say their IQ is far or somewhat above average than below average (45% vs. 5%), and 39% say their IQ is about average. Men are more likely than women to say they have an above-average IQ (52% vs. 39%). White Americans are also more likely to say their IQ is above-average than Black or Hispanic Americans (49% vs. 34% vs. 37%). People who have a postgraduate degree are more likely than those with only a college degree to say their IQ is above average and both groups are significantly more likely than those with no college degree to say so (69% vs. 58% vs. 37%). Democrats and Republicans are about equally likely to describe their IQ as above average (48% vs. 45%).
Americans generally rate their own IQ as higher than those of many major political figures. In the survey, we asked respondents about 38 political figures (each respondent was asked about a random sample of 19 of them). Response options included far above average, somewhat above average, about average, somewhat below average, far below average, and not sure.
We calculate each figure's "net IQ" by subtracting the share of Americans who say their IQ is far or somewhat below average from the share who say it is far or somewhat above average. The shares of Americans who say they are not sure about the IQ of the 38 figures ranged from 12% to 47%. The political figures who rank highest in the percentage of Americans who think they have an above-average IQ include some who also rank high for the percentage who think they have a below-average IQ. But a high net IQ means the share who consider the person's IQ high is much greater than the share who think the opposite.
The figures with the highest perceived net IQ are Musk (+46), Barack Obama (+43), Condoleezza Rice (+34), Ben Carson (+25), Hillary Clinton (+22), Amy Coney Barrett (+21), and Bernie Sanders (+18).
The figures perceived to have the lowest net IQ are Marjorie Taylor Greene (-13), Joe Biden (-10), Maxine Waters (-9), Kristi Noem (-7), Trump (-1), Susan Collins (-1), and Chuck Schumer (-1).
Overall, average net IQ ratings for Democratic and Republican figures included in the survey are similar (+8 vs. +9), as are ratings for non-Hispanic white and non-white figures (+8 vs. +10). The average perceived net IQ of women is slightly lower than that of men (+7 vs. +10).
Democrats and Republicans generally believe that figures from their own parties have higher average IQs than figures from the other party. John Fetterman is the only Democratic figure with a lower net IQ among Democrats than any Republican — and Fetterman ranks behind only one, Rice. Among Republicans, Obama and Fetterman are the only Democratic figures with higher net IQs than any Republican figures. Obama ranks above Mitt Romney and Collins with Republicans for net IQ, and Fetterman ranks above Romney, Collins, and Greene.
Among Democrats, the figures with the highest perceived net IQ are Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. The figures with the highest perceived net IQ among Republicans IQs are Musk, Trump, JD Vance, Carson, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The public figures who most divide opinions of Democrats and Republicans are Trump and Harris, opponents in the 2024 presidential election. Besides Trump, other Republican figures with particularly large partisan gaps in perceived IQ are Vance and Kennedy. Besides Harris, other Democratic figures who sharply divide the parties are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Biden.
There are only three figures whom Democrats and Republicans are at least somewhat aligned on when it comes to perceptions of their IQs: Rice, Romney, and Collins. For them, net IQ perceptions among Democrats and Republicans are similar.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted online among 2,280 U.S. adult citizens on two separate 2025 surveys from October 27 - 29 and October 28 - November 1. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3 percentage points.
Image: Getty
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