Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Left-handed people are roughly 10% of the population.

So what explains 4 of the last 7 US Presidents being left-handed?? (Crank up the conspiracy theories!)

It starts with lefty Gerald Ford replacing righty Richard Nixon.

Then righty Jimmy Carter was elected.

Carter was replaced by Ronald Reagan, who as everyone knows was very much a righty.

He was replaced by his Vicepresident, the elder George Bush, a lefty.

Bush was defeated in 1992 by another lefty, the saxophone playing Bill Clinton. The third-party candidate in that election, Ross Perot, was also left-handed.

Then there was the younger George Bush, a righty.

And now Barack Obama, obviously a lefty. He defeated left-handed John McCain for the job in 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness_...ted_States

What's up with this recent left-handed success? Is there some cognitive or behavioral characteristic associated with left-handedness that makes people more likely to ascend to the top in politics?

Britain's David Cameron is also left-handed.

As far as political leanings go, two of the four recent left-handed Presidents were Democrats and two were Republicans. The three righties were one Democrat and two Republicans.

Left-handed people more likely to have psychotic disorders: Yale Study

While grandiose delusions / ambitions can be an accompanying effect or sign of reality impairment, it would seem ludicrous to attribute psychosis to those presidents. Perhaps there's a mild antecedent of a full-blown disorder which is so tame that it resists discovery or diagnosis.