• Polling

Conservative Cable News Watchers Most Likely to Believe in Conspiracy Theories

Wednesday, September 28, 2022 By Bryan Bennett
Download Full Report
Welcome to NAVIGATOR – a project designed to better understand the American public’s views on issues of the day and help advocates, elected officials, and other interested parties understand the language, imagery, and messaging needed to make and win key policy arguments.

Belief in UFO’s Most Widespread and Bipartisan Conspiracy Belief, Though Most Conspiracies Rejected by Americans

Americans who view QAnon favorably (9%) believe the government is hiding UFO information (78% true), that Trump legitimately won the 2020 election (66%), and that many politicians and other figures belong to a secret group of abusive, devil-worshiping elites (66%).

Conspiratorial Thinkers More Likely to Be Conservative Cable News Viewers, Very Conservative GOP, Gun Owners

Those who regularly watch OANN (40% are conspiratorial thinkers), Newsmax (39%), or Fox News (32%) are more likely to be conspiratorial thinkers. Other over-indexing groups include dads (32%), very conservative Republicans (32%), and gun owners (31%).

QAnon Is Viewed Deeply Negatively, Even By Those Prone to Believing in Conspiracy Theories Generally

The group is viewed negatively across partisan and racial groups, including by conspiratorial thinkers*, though they are more likely to hold a favorable opinion of QAnon than most (24% favorable).

A Majority of Americans Believe in a Government Cover-Up of UFO Information

Men (58%) believe the government is hiding UFO information to a greater extent than women (47%). Americans who watch rightwing news are especially skeptical; more than two-thirds of OANN (67%) and Newsmax (70%) viewers think the government is hiding UFO information. Left-leaning news viewers are not as skeptical – CNN (51%) and MSNBC (53%) – though over half still are.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte Enjoys Bipartisan Support, Viewed Most Favorably by Union Members

The autumnal beverage sees net positive favorability across the board; union members and AAPI Americans outpace the competition, with 56% and 52% favorability respectively toward the piquant pumpkin potable.

About The Study

Global Strategy Group conducted public opinion surveys among a sample of 1,001 registered voters from September 8-September 11, 2022. 96 additional interviews were conducted among Hispanic voters. 76 additional interviews were conducted among Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. 100 additional interviews were conducted among African American voters. 99 additional interviews were conducted among independent voters.

Like the info here?

Get it directly in your inbox when new polls are released.

About Navigator

In a world where the news cycle is the length of a tweet, our leaders often lack the real-time public-sentiment analysis to shape the best approaches to talking about the issues that matter the most. Navigator is designed to act as a consistent, flexible, responsive tool to inform policy debates by conducting research and reliable guidance to inform allies, elected leaders, and the press. Navigator is a project led by pollsters from Global Strategy Group and GBAO along with an advisory committee, including: Andrea Purse, progressive strategist; Arkadi Gerney, The Hub Project; Joel Payne, The Hub Project; Christina Reynolds, EMILY’s List; Delvone Michael, Working Families; Felicia Wong, Roosevelt Institute; Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO; Jesse Ferguson, progressive strategist; Navin Nayak, Center for American Progress Action Fund; Stephanie Valencia, EquisLabs; and Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

For press inquiries contact: press@navigatorresearch.org