Conspiracy belief is universal across demographics while specific theories split along party lines

Evidence

“Conspiracy theories permeate all parts of American society,” they wrote, “and cut across gender, age, race, income, political affiliation, educational level, and occupational status.” Some beliefs crossed class and political lines: between 60 and 80 percent of people surveyed agreed that the Kennedy assassination was part of a conspiracy that was covered up by the government. Others, surprising ones, were closely tied to party: the conviction that climate change is a government hoax is more common on the right, while suspicions about GMOs are more common on the left. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 93

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates a too-clean ‘conspiracy culture = right-wing’ vault assumption; the left/right split on GMOs vs climate echoes the party-alignment mechanism at passage 91. — connects to: Conspiratorial belief is driven by minority status and anomia, not just white politics — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 144; Economic insecurity and minority status predict higher conspiracy belief regardless of education or income — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 145; Pathologizing models treat collective conspiracy belief as a scaled-up mental disorder — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 148 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy belief is pervasive across every demographic group, not a fringe phenomenon #corroborates (0.95) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 403
• Conspiratorial belief is mainstream across American demographics. #corroborates (0.90) — Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories, 48
• Majorities of Americans hold at least some conspiratorial beliefs #corroborates (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 120
• Most people hold at least one conspiratorial belief. #corroborates (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 120
• Conspiracy belief stems from universal human meaning-making rather than outsider pathology #expands (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 32
• Conspiracy beliefs mark subcultures rooted in fringe religion and politics #contradicts (0.85)
• Global erosion of institutional trust sustains conspiracy belief beyond any single political era #qualifies (0.75) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 112