This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Political preferences are generally explained by income, age and level of education. However, our research suggests that a far more unexpected trait may also have a hand in how we vote.
A survey carried out in 18 western countries has shown that left-handed people tend to identify more strongly with the political left. This finding appears to be more related to identity than biology. Our research shows that a statistical link exists between being left-handed and holding left-leaning political views.
In a recent study carried out as part of our academic research, we set out to determine whether a characteristic as commonplace as which hand we write with could be linked to political views. To find out, we surveyed 1,404 people across 18 western countries, including France, Germany, the United States, Italy and Spain. Participants indicated their political stance on a 10-point scale ranging from right to left, as well as which hand they write with.
We then compared their answers, taking into account numerous factors such as age, income, gender and level of education. This is not a representative sample of each country: The survey was conducted online, with a high proportion of respondents from the United Kingdom. However, our results remain similar when we exclude the UK from the analysis.
We chose to focus on western countries to prevent the very negative perceptions of left-handedness, which are still prevalent in Asia and Africa, from skewing the responses. First, people who identify as left-handed place themselves significantly further to the left politically than right-handers. The difference is far from negligible: On average, left-handers are positioned about half a point further to the left on a 10-point political scale.
This may seem small, but it is greater than the effect of gender: In our sample, women are positioned 0.4 points further to the left than men. Our most interesting finding, however, emerges when we measure handedness in a different way. Instead of simply asking people whether they consider themselves left-handed, we observed which hand they actually use for a range of everyday activities: writing, using scissors, brushing their teeth or throwing a ball.
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