What is Trump's IQ?

What is Donald Trump's IQ? No verified score exists—he’s never released a real IQ test. Has Trump taken an IQ test? Only the MoCA (dementia screen) is confirmed. Explore the facts behind the claims.

Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist

What is Trump's IQ?

Donald Trump's IQ is unknown. Despite various claims circulating online and statements Trump himself has made suggesting he has a high IQ, there is no publicly available record of him taking a professionally administered intelligence test. Any specific numbers are speculation or -- as the President would call them -- “fake news.”

Why the Claims Fall Apart

Over the years, various websites and social media posts have claimed Trump's IQ is anywhere from 73 to 156. These estimates come from several sources, none of them valid.

Trump attended Fordham University and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics, leading some to extrapolate an IQ from this achievement. But university admission or graduation alone are not strong evidence of a person’s IQ score. More specific information, such as college admissions test scores, is needed. While SAT scores do correlate strongly with IQ, Trump's SAT scores have never been made public. The best that can be said about Trump’s IQ on the basis of his college record is that it is almost certainly at or above average.

Trump has stated that he is a “very stable genius” and has said many times that he has a high IQ. This is not good evidence of his intelligence because self-estimates of IQ are notoriously unreliable. In both terms, he took a test called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as part of his physical check-up, claiming that he earned a perfect score. The MoCA is not an IQ test, though. Instead, it is a screening test intended to identify the early stages of cognitive problems. Scoring high on the MoCA merely means that the patient probably does not have any neurological problems with attention, memory, or visuospatial processing.

Some websites claim to estimate public figures' IQs based on their accomplishments, vocabulary, or behavior. Occasionally this is based on a historiometric methods of retrospectively estimating IQ. When done with accepted methodologies by experts, there is some validity to such estimates. For example, psychologist Dean Keith Simonton published a study in 2006 ranking the IQs of all U.S. presidents from George Washington through George W. Bush. The minimum estimated IQ in adulthood was 125 (for Ulysses S. Grant), and the maximum was 165 (for John Quincy Adams), with an average of 136. In comparison, the average IQ for the general population is 100, and only 4.8% of people score 125 or higher. Assuming one accepts Simonton’s methodology, even America’s least intelligent presidents are much smarter than average. (Simonton has not updated his IQ estimates to include presidents Obama, Trump, or Biden.)

The Privacy Problem

There is no evidence that Trump has taken an IQ test. But even if he had, privacy laws would prevent the score from being publicly disclosed without his permission. This is also true for his school grades and college admissions scores, and he threatened legal action against his high school and colleges if they released his records. If Trump does not release his test scores or records, then any claims about his IQ are unsubstantiated and/or merely speculation.

Intelligence and Leadership

While no one knows Donald Trump's IQ, it is justifiable to discuss what research reveals about intelligence and political success. This relationship is more complicated than many assume.

Higher IQ is generally associated with better performance in cognitively demanding occupations, including job performance across various fields. This includes the job of U.S. president: Simonton has reported that “Intellectual Brilliance” (related to his estimates of IQ) is positively correlated with historians’ judgment of presidents’ job performance. However, leadership roles, especially in politics, require more than raw cognitive ability. Social skills, emotional regulation, coalition building, and communication matter immensely for presidents, and IQ tests do not directly measure these attributes. Therefore, even a president’s IQ is only one factor among many that contribute to success in the very complex task of leading a nation.

Watch “Human Intelligence vs. AI: What Really Defines ‘Smart’?” on the Riot IQ YouTube channel for a broader look at what IQ truly represents.