‘Total bonkers’: Survey finds Americans increasingly believe QAnon and other conspiracy theories

Pollster said recent survey showed that Americans are ‘increasingly willing’ to believe ‘ludicrous’ theories

A new survey has revealed that Americans increasingly believe in conspiracy theories such as QAnon, which claims that a deep state run by satan-worshipping pedophiles has worked to undermine Donald Trump.

According to the NPR/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, some 39 per cent of respondents said they agreed that the president was being undermined in this way.

When asked whether or not “satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media,” only 47 per cent said the statement was incorrect.  

Some 17 per cent said the statement was true, while 37 per cent were unsure about the claims.

Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said the survey showed that conspiracy theories were becoming more prevalent among Americans.

"Increasingly, people are willing to say and believe stuff that fits in with their view of how the world should be, even if it doesn't have any basis in reality or fact," Mr Jackson told NPR.

"What this poll really illustrates to me is how willing people are to believe things that are ludicrous because it fits in with a worldview that they want to believe."

"It's total bonkers," he added.

Other conspiracy theories polled in the NPR/Ipsos survey were also connected to Mr Trump, who has claimed without basis that the presidential election was “rigged” against him.

About a third of those polled agreed with Mr Trump. 

Some 40 per cent said they believed that the coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab, another baseless claim. Mr Trump falsely suggested that was the case several months ago.