Why Trump, Obama, and Biden are not on Simonton 2006
The paper stops at George W. Bush. Later presidents get labeled informal estimates—not a fake extra 2C column.
QuestionWhy isn’t Donald Trump in the Simonton presidential IQ table?
The table stops at the 43rd presidency
George W. Bush is the last president in Table 1 (II-C 138.5, displayed 139). Obama, Trump, and Biden took office after the paper.
Informal numbers are labeled, not spliced
This atlas shows Obama 150, Trump 130, and Biden 125 as informal estimates so every president row has an integer. They sit in a separate block on the ranking page, never mixed unlabeled into 2C order. The year-by-year evidence is at /stories/obama-iq-estimate/, /stories/trump-iq-estimate/, and /stories/biden-iq-estimate/.
The viral 73 is a disputed claim
Full Fact found no evidence for the fabricated Trump IQ-73 clipping. It is kept as a case study in fake precision, not as his ranking number.
What the evidence supports
Simonton 2006 covers 42 presidents through George W. Bush. Informal estimates here are Obama 150, Trump 130, and Biden 125, with a separate disputed viral 73. None of those is Simonton 2C. The evidence chronologies are on the Obama, Trump, and Biden investigation pages.
Sources used in this investigation
peer-reviewed researchPresidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership: Estimates and Correlations for 42 U.S. Chief ExecutivesPolitical Psychology (Wiley) · 2006expert analysisIQ Caddy proof-of-concept informal estimatesIQ Caddy · 2026fact checkNo Evidence Donald Trump Scored 73 on an IQ TestFull Fact · 2025archival catalogEarly life and career of Barack ObamaWikipedia · 2026archival catalogEarly life and education of Donald TrumpWikipedia · 2026archival catalogEarly life and career of Joe BidenWikipedia · 2026