Getting a boost in height may indirectly incline you toward having more conservative political beliefs, suggests recent research published in the British Journal of Political Science.

Researchers studied data taken from a long-running survey of households throughout the United Kingdom, specifically looking at those who took the survey in 2006. Across the board, they found a small but consistent pattern: the taller someone was, the more likely they were to support the UK’s Conservative Party; support traditionally conservative policies; and explicitly vote for conservative politicians. Specifically, they estimated that for every inch in height, the likelihood of them supporting the Conservative Party rose by 0.6 percent, with the relationship being stronger in men than women.

“If you take two people with nearly identical characteristics – except one is taller than the other – on average the taller person will be more politically conservative,” said co-author Dr. Sara Watson, an assistant professor of political science at The Ohio State University, in a statement.

To be exact here, though, it’s not really an abundance of height that makes someone more likely to be conservative. Instead, the connection is likely due to the fact that taller people tend to get the longer end of the stick in life, including when it comes to how much money they make. Some, but not all, research has in turn linked having a greater income to having more conservative beliefs. By first looking at height, an aspect of ourselves that doesn’t fluctuate over time (unlike our yearly income), Watson and her colleague thought they would be able to see a clearer picture, if any, between money and political beliefs. Adding support to that theory, the researchers weren’t able to explain away the connection between height and conservative beliefs through other factors like a person’s race, level of education, or religion.

“Height is useful in this context because it predicts income well,” Watson explained. “Because we only expect height to affect political behavior through income, we can use it to investigate the effect of income on voting.”

In a second study of the 2006 survey data that took height into account, they found that each inch increase in height was associated with having 350 pounds (or $665 dollars in 2006) more in annual income; every 1,000 extra pounds in annual income (roughly $1,840 US) was likewise associated with a 2 to 3 percent greater chance of supporting the Conservative Party.

The connection between either height and income and our politics may be intriguing, but Watson warns that we shouldn’t read too much into their findings. After all, there’s more than one reason why we believe what we believe.

“Income and height play a role, but they are not political destiny,” she said.

Source: Watson S, Arunachalam R. Height, Income and Voting. British Journal of Political Science. 2016.

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