Half of Trump voters believe QAnon conspiracy theory: poll

Half of registered voters set to cast their ballot for President Donald Trump next month believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory, a new poll has revealed.

In an equally stark statistic, the poll released by Yahoo News/YouGov on Tuesday states that just 17 percent of Trump supporters reject the baseless theory.

The far-right QAnon conspiracy theory posits a world in which a cabal of satanist paedophiles rule the world, and with it a global child sex-trafficking ring. 

The theory spans from posts made on an anonymous internet messaging boards by "Q", supposedly a government official with access to top secret information.

Supporters of QAnon believe that President Trump is battling against the cabal and working towards "The Storm", a day when the cult will finally be overthrown and thousands of paeophiles - including Democratic politicians and Hollywood actors - will be arrested.

The conspiracy theory has no basis in fact but has swept the US since emerging in 2017. 

Read more: The progressive vote and the 2020 election

The YahooNews/YouGov poll published on Tuesday reveals that some 50 percent of registered voters with a stated intention to vote for Trump on 3 November believe in the conspiracy theory.

The survey polled 1,583 registered voters from 13 to 18 October and has a stated margin of error of 4 percent.

Voters were asked directly about the QAnon conspiracy theory but also polled on two questions that described its central idea without referring to QAnon; do you believe top Democrats are involved in elite child sex-trafficking rings, and do you believe President Donald Trump is working to dismantle an elite child sex-trafficking ring involving top Democrats.

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 21, 2020" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post "I see myself in a broader spectrum; I care about foreign policy, I care about immigration, I care about education. Some things matter more than others but I care about a bigger picture" #USElection2020 https://t.co/fNDKJBioeI — The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 21, 2020

 

Far more voters admitted to supporting the conspiracy theory when answering those questions, versus when they were polled on their belief in "QAnon".

Half of Trump supporters answered "yes" to the first question and 52 percent answered positively to the second. Around a third of Trump voters said they were "not sure" about both questions.

Just 17 percent of Trump supporters rejected the first question and only 12 percent answered "no" to the second.

Around a quarter of all registered voters said they believed top Democrats were involved in child sex-trafficking rings.

Democrats reject conspiracy theory

However, a majority of registered voters asked directly about the myth stated they had not heard of the QAnon conspiracy theory. That figure includes 44 percent of Trump voters.

Another 59 percent of voters who had heard of QAnon described it as "an extremist conspiracy theory with no basis in fact". That figure includes just 16 percent of Trump supporters.

Around 80 percent of polled supporters of Democratic contender Joe Biden rejected the conspiracy theory.

When asked about it last week, President Trump claimed he was not aware of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

"What I do hear about it, they are very strongly against paedophilia," he said, refusing to disavow the conspiracy.

Several Republican candidates in November's election have stated their belief in the conspiracy theory; one of them, Georgia candidate Majorie Taylor Greene, has been directly endorsed by the president.

Last year, the FBI declared the QAnon movement a domestic terror threat in an internal memo.

Supporters of the conspiracy theory have been linked to several criminal incidents, including the murder of New York mafia boss Frank Cali. In 2018, a Nevada man was indicted on terrorism charges after driving an armoured vehicle to the Hoover Dam with weapons.



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