In United States politics, conspiracy theories are beliefs that a major political situation is the result of secretive collusion by powerful people striving to harm a rival group or undermine society in general.
Such theories draw from actual conspiracies, in which individuals work together covertly in order to unravel a larger system. Often, the struggle between a real conspiracy theory and a misconception of one leads to conflict, polarization in elections, distrust in government, and racial and political divisions.
Many political conspiracy theories begin and spread from politically charged circumstances, individuals' partisan affiliations, and online platforms that form echo chambers with like-minded individuals. Belief in American political conspiracy theories applies to all parties, ideologies, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, and genders.
Contributions Circumstantial fear Conspiracy theories often arise during new political or social circumstances in which one group of people feels threatened by another group that is politically, religiously, ethnically, racially, or economically different from them. Theories began as early as the European colonization of the Americas when colonists deemed Native Americans as threats. As a result, many colonists, including Cotton Mather, speculated that Native Americans were controlled by the devil. Some even believed in the "myth of the super-chief," in which every Indigenous attack was orchestrated by a tribal chief, who controlled thousands of Native American fighters and strove to wipe out the whites.
Northern Republicans in the mid-1860s believed President Andrew Johnson was conspiring with ex-Confederates to undo the abolition of slavery.
Theories also arose in response to the counterculture, feminist, and anti-war era of the 1960s. Many (but not all) conservatives felt threatened and began to believe that the movements had been formed with communist motivations to undermine the U.S. government. During the 1990s, many right-wing conspiracy theorists also feared that the Clintons were involved in drug cartels and assassinations. Some have theorized that the government is planting drugs in predominantly-black neighborhoods to breed a greater rate of incarceration and crime in the community. In 2020, many conspiracy theories circulated during the coronavirus pandemic partly because of the increased anxiety, larger number of people staying at home, and greater focus on the Internet and social media outlets. One such conspiracy that proliferated from the 2020 Presidential election was QAnon.
Conspiracy theories exist because of fear of the other or frustration with one's own disenfranchisement. They correlate with an increase in social, political, or economic changes in society and are often responses to rationalize anxiety about such events. Conspiracy theories tend to be brought into context with the country's ideals and laws. Frank Donner, a 1980s civil liberties lawyer, claimed:Conspiracy theories arise among all races and parties because of the fear of a society and a country destabilizing and how that would affect one's own life. Conspiracy theories, according to Benedictine University Professor of Psychology James Davis, come in three related types:
Class structures and lack of trust in government The class structure is also likely to influence one's belief in a political conspiracy theory. Those with a low income, a lack of higher education, or a lack of secure employment are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories due to a general feeling of helplessness. This lack of control is correlated with class: individuals from higher classes have been proven to feel more in control of their lives, employment, education, and standard of living. A low socioeconomic status can generate political and economic anxiety and a desire to explain the dire circumstances. That helplessness may lead several to find a psychologically-soothing explanation: the idea that a group of government actors is plotting against them.
Those with higher education or a higher IQ level still engage in conspiracy theories. In fact, many conspiracy theories require substantial mental effort to understand. Believers are defined by more than just their class; they also engage in the psychological phenomenon of confirmation bias in which they accept information validating their beliefs and reject information that is inconsistent with their theories.
Many individuals also live in positions in which specific government policies may cause economic distress. For example, many Americans believe that the government is forcing health industries to hide the cure for cancer. They also have been taking drugs that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration because they do not trust the medical industry. This likely stems from a fear of and frustration with current U.S. policies on public health. Many ill Americans cannot afford healthcare and may look to sources that blame the medical industry, including conspiracies. This may also originate from a history of fear about the government's lack of transparency or truth in terms of medication since American doctors once approved mercury, radioactive material, and cigarettes and falsely deemed them to be healthy.
According to the Pew Research Center 22% of Americans trust their government to do what is right "just about always" or "most of the time" as of April 2024. The moving average of this percentage has not been above 50% since the Bush administration (2001) displaying a massive distrust across the nation in the 21st century.
Partisan affiliations Partisan affiliations sometimes help determine belief in conspiracy theories, but this depends on the theory. There is a correlation between political parties and beliefs in the "birther" conspiracy, the Kennedy assassination conspiracy, the "truther" conspiracy, the "levee breach" theory, and the "death panel" conspiracy. Partisanship loyalty affects beliefs in some theories, and "conspiratorial thinking," a general paranoia about the government, determines others. Conspiracy theories directly affiliated with the Obama administration (e.g., the "birthers" and "death panel" conspiracy theories) leaned politically to the right, and Democrats were less likely to believe in theories that lobbied against Obama and his policies. As for the "levee breach," "truther," and Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, both political parties had a similar number of people believing in them. Individuals who believed in those specific theories also had a previous affinity for conspiratorial thinking or questioning the credibility of governmental actors. However, it has also been studied that conspiratorial thinkers may be more focused on an anti-governmental mindset because of their lack of trust in higher authority rather than a specific theory or party.
Each partisan group is partial to believing in conspiracies that target the opposite party because it disbelieves the other party's ideologies and policies. Therefore, conspiracy theories can come from both political affiliations. In fact, the University of Miami political scientist Joseph Uscinski stated that "both sides are equally conspiratorial in their thinking... No one has a monopoly."
Intuitionist versus rationalist model University of Chicago Political Science Professor Eric Oliver has created a theory that intuitionism and rationalism are two psychological patterns of thought that can shape specific conspiracy theories and perhaps even catalyze partisan divisions. Intuitionism is individuals relying on their emotional responses to current events and then using heuristics to create an explanation for why the events are happening. Rationalists instead determine the causes and effects of events based on quantitative evidence. Both intuitionists and rationalists believe in conspiracies, Oliver argues, but intuitionists more commonly associate themselves with conspiracies for their association with more qualitative emotional data stemming from anxiety about society.
Polarization Oliver speculates that the current polarization occurs because of increasingly far-right and far-left thinking, but it also might come from the conflict between intuitionists and rationalists. Throughout history, the right-wing has become increasingly intuitionist, often using Biblical or Christian themes to justify political beliefs or trust in the existence of conspiracies. The left-wing has been commonly associated with basing belief on quantitative thought rather than religious affiliation. Conspiratorial beliefs may stem from a misinterpretation of numerical data.
Often, political parties engage in an us versus them mentality when understanding theories and believing that the opposite party started the conspiracy. By tying specific theories to political affiliation, many party members become polarized. In fact, Steven Smallpage, Adam Enders, and Joseph Uscinski, political researchers and authors of Research and Politics, explained:
Political ignorance Lack of awareness of political issues may also perpetuate belief in conspiracy theories. Often, because individuals believe that they have "just one vote" with little impact, they have little motivation to look at politics objectively or to discover credible information about current events. Individuals apathetic towards politics may remain ignorant about issues. As voters latch onto ignorance and apathy, some may care little whether political information is biased or sometimes even true. Lack of knowledge about how political systems function or about a given political candidate makes people much more likely to believe extreme or false claims, such as conspiracy theories.
Echo chambers and spread Conspiracy theories have evolved with the media. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social media sites use algorithms to bring up posts, videos, and news that correlate with past searches and interests. Conservative users commonly receive conservative information, liberal users usually receive liberal news, and every opinion in between likely receives likewise. Social media is a key element in creating echo chambers for conspiracy theorists.
One example of echo chambers is Alex Jones, the talk show host of InfoWars. A far-right host who discusses and analyzes political issues, Jones has frequently brought up information that was deemed extreme and sometimes even false, several times with little evidence to back up his claims. Because of the ability of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms to connect individuals with similar thinking and beliefs, InfoWars and its community grew quickly, and like-minded individuals were given extreme information that they were more likely to believe because of their political affiliations.
Nationalism and multiculturalism The fear of a divided nation, or the definition of what it means to be "American" also causes several conspiracies. Often, whenever a nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender differs from specific identities with which someone already affiliates, fear of national overthrow, oppression by a separate group, or attack on one's own way of life form a distinct "us versus them" mentality. As such fears and mentalities proliferate within like-minded groups, conspiracy theories form on the opposing party to justify the group's existence and beliefs. For example, conspiracy theories have been perpetuated in the African-American community that the U.S. government instigated AIDS or cocaine into the population, which follows the fear of one group oppressing another (in this case, white Americans). Conspiracy theories have also been created concerning Native Americans that either argues against or advocates for them.