Multiple scholarly sources consistently find that liberals tend to score higher on the personality trait of openness to experience compared to conservatives.
True
Liberals are more likely to score higher in openess to experience
Why Liberals Are More Open to Experience Than Conservatives - Psychology Today
Source: psychologytoday.com
At a glance
Verified September 9, 2025Key Evidence
ResearchGate study shows empirical links between liberal ideology and higher openness.
researchgate.netresearchgate.netThe Relationship between Openness to Experience and Political Ideology
Carney et al. (2008) found liberals scored higher on openness than conservatives.
onlinelibrary.wiley.comonlinelibrary.wiley.comThe Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles,...
Xu (2021) confirms positive correlation between liberalism and openness in recent personality research.
The reporting
What the Evidence Shows
The claim that liberals are more likely to score higher in openness to experience is well-supported by a range of empirical studies and psychological research. Openness to experience is one of the Big Five personality traits, characterized by curiosity, creativity, and a preference for novelty and variety.
(ResearchGate) explicitly states that liberals tend to have higher levels of openness to experience, citing empirical connections between ideology and personality traits.researchgate.netresearchgate.netThe Relationship between Openness to Experience and Political Ideology
(Wiley Online Library, Carney et al., 2008) hypothesized and found that liberals score higher than conservatives on openness to new experiences.onlinelibrary.wiley.comonlinelibrary.wiley.comThe Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles,...
(Washington Post opinion piece) notes that liberals consistently score higher on openness to experience based on standard personality assessments.washingtonpost.comwashingtonpost.comOpinion
(Xu, 2021, Journal of Personality) confirms positive correlations between political liberalism and openness to experience, reinforcing the robustness of this finding in recent research.onlinelibrary.wiley.comonlinelibrary.wiley.comBeyond Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness: Testing links between...
(Psychology Today) discusses how political sophistication can amplify differences in openness between liberals and conservatives, particularly in experiential aspects.psychologytoday.compsychologytoday.comWhy Liberals Are More Open to Experience Than Conservatives
(JSTOR) also supports the view that liberals are more open-minded, creative, and novelty-seeking compared to conservatives who tend toward orderliness and conventionality.jstor.orgjstor.orgThe Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles,...
While some sources like (Wikipedia on openness) provide general information about the trait without political context, the majority of academic and journalistic sources converge on the conclusion that liberals score higher in openness.en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.orgOpenness to experience
and discuss ideological differences more broadly but do not contradict the core finding about openness.engagedscholarship.csuohio.eduengagedscholarship.csuohio.eduCsuohio
fee.orgfee.orgWhy Conservatives Can't Understand Liberals (and Vice Versa)+1 more is a general repository without specific relevant data.
Overall, the evidence is consistent across multiple independent studies over time, indicating a strong link between liberal political orientation and higher openness to experience.
Primary trail
Verified Sources10
Open source