Has Donald Trump ever released an official IQ score or taken a verified IQ test?
Executive summary
There is no verified record that Donald Trump has ever released an official IQ score or taken a publicly confirmed, standard IQ test; persistent viral claims (including a widely circulated "IQ 73" story) have been debunked and fact‑checked as lacking evidence [1] [2]. Trump has publicly boasted about his intelligence and cited cognitive screening results administered by physicians, but those screenings (notably the MoCA) are not equivalent to an IQ test and were intended to detect cognitive impairment rather than measure intelligence [3] [4] [5].
1. The central claim — official IQ score: no documentary evidence
Investigations by independent fact‑checkers find no contemporary reporting or official documentation that an IQ score for Donald Trump has been released; Full Fact explicitly states there is no evidence Trump has an IQ of 73 and that no official IQ score has been published [1], a conclusion echoed in earlier debunks that identified the viral "73" story as fabricated [2].
2. The viral "73" narrative and why it collapsed
The widely shared image and meme claiming a 73 IQ purportedly based on a high‑school test were traced to fabricated newspaper clippings and miscaptioned photos; PolitiFact labeled the circulating post false, noting the alleged testing did not take place as claimed and the supposed discovery had no verifiable provenance [2], a pattern Full Fact also documents when assessing the claim's lack of evidence [1].
3. Trump’s public claims versus verifiable testing
Trump has repeatedly boasted about his own IQ in public comments and social media posts and has challenged opponents to be tested [3], but boasting is not the same as producing a validated psychometric report; mainstream outlets including the BBC have noted that Trump has never revealed a documented IQ score [5].
4. Cognitive screenings reported by physicians — not IQ tests
Medical disclosures show Trump underwent brief cognitive screening using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) during clinical visits, and his physician reported perfect scores on that tool at points in time [4]. Medical experts emphasize that the MoCA is a screening instrument for mild cognitive impairment, not an IQ test, and while MoCA and IQ can correlate loosely in populations, the MoCA was not developed to measure intellectual ability [4].
5. Why the distinction matters and how it’s been politicized
Confusion between cognitive screens and IQ tests fuels partisan narratives: supporters point to MoCA results as evidence of mental fitness, while opponents and social media actors amplify unverified IQ claims to impugn competence [4] [3]. Fact‑checking outlets flag that memes and selective quotations often serve political or attention‑driven agendas rather than rigorous disclosure, and that the public conversation frequently blurs clinical screening, IQ testing, and rhetorical self‑praise [2] [1].
6. Reporting limits and what remains unverified
Available reputable sources do not provide any authenticated IQ report or standard psychometric testing record for Trump; beyond physician‑reported cognitive screening results and Trump's public statements, there is no primary documentation in the cited sources confirming he has taken a formal, verifiable IQ test or released an official IQ score [1] [4] [5]. This analysis reflects the limits of the provided reporting and does not claim to have access to sealed or private records that were not cited by these sources.