Conspiracy belief is pervasive across every demographic group, not a fringe phenomenon

Evidence

Polling suggests that conspiracism is indeed widespread: “Conspiracy theories permeate all parts of American society, and cut across gender, age, race, income, political affiliation, educational level, and occupational status.” So, for example, about a third of Americans believe the birther conspiracy theory that President Obama is not a native-born American but rather a Kenyan, cited in Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 5. Another study found that “while some people hold mostly crazy beliefs, most people hold at least some crazy beliefs.” Adam J. Berinsky, “Rumors, Truths, and Reality: A Study of Political Misinformation” (unpublished manuscript, May 22, 2012, version 3.1 on file with the authors), http://web.mit.edu/berinsky/www/files/rumor.pdf. See also the Chapman University Survey of American Fears, wave 3 (2016), in which 75 percent of respondents stated that they believed the government is concealing information about at least one of the nine conspiracy theories the poll inquired about; “What Aren’t They Telling Us, Chapman University Survey of American Fears,” Chapman University, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, October 11, 2016, https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2016/10/11/what-arent-they-telling-us/. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 403

Categorization

• QUESTION: The ‘most people hold at least some crazy beliefs’ finding points to the interesting question of what distribution of belief intensity sustains conspiracism.
• XREF: Interacts with claims that conspiracism is concentrated in dispossessed groups — this data undercuts homogeneity assumptions. — connects to: Economic insecurity and minority status predict higher conspiracy belief regardless of education or income — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 145; Conspiracy belief is universal across demographics while specific theories split along party lines — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 93; Over half of Americans now endorse at least one conspiracy theory. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 14 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiratorial belief is mainstream across American demographics. #corroborates (1.00) — Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories, 48
• Conspiracy belief stems from universal human meaning-making rather than outsider pathology #corroborates (0.90) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 32
• Conspiracy belief has long spanned the American political spectrum #expands (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 26
• Conspiracy beliefs mark subcultures rooted in fringe religion and politics #contradicts (0.82)