I'm with Arnold Kling. I absolutely think that personality has a lot to do with political views. Besides studies like the one Kling refers to, it is also worth thinking about what sorts of jobs people get. For instance, this study shows that interest in different subjects correlates to political views. The results are what you would expect. Conservatives are drawn to Law Enforcement and medicine, while liberals prefer entertainment and education.

One interesting thing about the study Kling refers to is that social and economic conservatism are two different things. For an economic conservative, you want a stable, conscientious, extraverted, disagreeable, unopen type (or for fellow Myers-Briggs fans, a stable ESTJ). But social conservatism is linked to only two of the five factors. What about views on foriegn policy? I'd like to see that study.

Oops, I mixed the names up. I'm on Caplan's side.

How much of this might be contextual? I wonder whether the Openness correlation might be weaker - or, less likely, even be of the opposite sign - in a society where the left doesn't preponderate in the middlebrow media, the universities, and the civil service.

cognition *is* contextual to a great extent.

And that's not all! Women consistently report higher Neuroticism and Agreeableness, and men often report higher Extraversion and Conscientiousness.

The gender gap explained!