Funny. The lack of truth-seeking and truth-telling is one of the chief reasons I moved away from the Bay Area.
For what it's worth, the odds for rationally evaluating political ideas tend to go up around folks that have gone to universities that are known for some decent level of intellectual rigor.
Still not great though, some of the most dogmatic people I've met in my life were professors and undergrads. But those that were the opposite more than made up for that.
Discussion of new ideas is an "openness" thing.
Funnily enough personality traits are a strong predictor for political preference. Personality traits are also a predictor of career choices.
I completely understand it could not have what we're looking for, which is why this was only one component among larger ones (family + new job)