Krupa/APHate Sarah Palin's guts? Well, researchers say it's a genetic thing.

Scientists say there's a biological reason why some people favor big government, oppose the death penalty and think Sarah Palin is the devil - it's called the liberal gene.

It's a variant of a gene associated with novelty seeking, researchers at the University of California and Harvard University say.

"We hypothesize that individuals with a genetic predisposition toward seeking out new experiences will tend to be more liberal," scientist James Fowler writes in the latest issue of the Journal of Politics.

People with the DRD4 gene would be more exposed to a wider variety of lifestyles and beliefs - making them more liberal, Fowler and his team suggest.

But simply being born with the liberal gene doesn't make one a liberal.

The eggheads found that the more friends a person with the gene had in high school, the more likely they were to lean left.

"It is the crucial interaction of two factors - the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence - that is associated with being more liberal," the researchers report.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/10/29/2010-10-29_sarahhating_may_be_genetic.html#ixzz13kWWHIZN