Why do so many Americans believe so much nonsense?
According to results from a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll, 63% of registered voters in the United States buy into at least one political conspiracy theory. The nationwide survey of registered voters asked Americans to evaluate four different political conspiracy theories: 56 % of Democrats and 75 % of Republicans say that at least one is likely to be true.
This includes 36% who think that President Obama is hiding information about his background and early life, 25% who think that the government knew about 9/11 in advance, and 19% who think the 2012 Presidential election was stolen. Generally, the more people know about current events, the less likely they are to believe in conspiracy theories – but not among Republicans, where more knowledge leads to greater belief in political conspiracies.
You can read more detail on the survey here.
Does this matter? I think so. I have written an essay on “The Reason For Truth” here.