That's too generalized. To an American, a British accent conveys prestige and sophistication. This has been studied, not just my opinion, though I can't immediately find a citation.
Also, to me, certain foreign accents sound very charming. Arnold's voice sounds authoritative, but it's probably more to do with the deep pitch than the accent.
Not all British accents carry that stereotype.
I've personally experienced situations where people seem to think I cannot understand some simple concept when I am not a native speaker. Just an an anecdote, though
It happened to me often when interacting with Chinese CS professors during college. I'd constantly have to remind myself that they were much more knowledgeable than I was despite having subpar communication skills.
Which British accent? It's unlikely that you associate prestige and sophistication with scouse, cockney, geordie, scots, west country, so on and so forth. These are generally played up as being working class or not smart in movies and other media.
Oi boyz, we gotz errselves a posh git roight 'ere.
'Respectable businessman' Badger from the Firefly universe probably wishes that were true for all 'British' accents!
For some reason, not remembered as a bodybuilder or Conan.
That said, being a bodybuilder, an actor and a politician has some skills and talent in common.
Actually a story had been circulating for years about him and Jesse Ventura. I guess they've always had a very healthy competition and close friendship. Jesse said they had both talked about going into politics for years, and after Jesse became governor in Minnesota, Jesse said he called him and boasted that he had beat him to the punch.
Sure enough, right after Jesse was elected, they had the recall in California and Arnold jumped in and won the recall election. I've heard in several interviews Jesse stating the only reason that Arnold got into politics was because of him.
- Body Building "for dumb people"
- Acting "just in dumb movies"
- Governor " Just because he's an action star. He won for because of the lols"
I'm not a megafan, but the more I think about him, the more I'm surprised I completed discounted how he completely dominated 3 fields. I sometimes wonder whether it's because of his accent. So many subconsciously connect strong accents with stupidity.