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Conspiracy theories are popular in Canada, especially among conservatives, poll says

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    Conspiracy theories are popular in Canada, especially among conservatives, poll says

    Conspiracy theories are popular in Canada, especially among conservatives, poll says
    Sarah Ritchie
    The Canadian Press
    Published Yesterday​

    The Earth is flat. We have been secretly contacted by intelligent beings from other planets. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did not land on the moon in 1969. They may sound like bizarre statements, but a new poll suggests a sizable number of Canadians believe in these and other conspiracy theories.

    About five per cent of us are flat-earthers, the poll suggests, while 11 per cent say they think the lunar landings were a hoax. And one-third of respondents say they think evidence that aliens have been in contact with our planet is being hidden from the public.

    Polling firm Leger surveyed 1,529 Canadian adults and 1,011 Americans between Nov. 24 and 26, asking about their beliefs in several popular conspiracy theories. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.

    In all, 79 per cent of Canadians and 84 per cent of Americans reported believing in at least one of a list of conspiracy theories mentioned in the survey. In both countries, conservative-leaning voters were more likely to believe in conspiracies.

    Just over a quarter of American respondents say they believe global warming doesn’t exist, compared to 16 per cent of Canadians.

    The most popular, among Canadians and Americans alike, was the notion that the mainstream media is manipulating the information it disseminates. Fifty-five per cent of Canadians and 67 per cent of Americans say they believe that to be the case, while another 10 per cent of respondents in Canada said they don’t know.

    In second place is the long-standing theory that John F. Kennedy’s assassination was a cover-up. Kennedy was shot while riding in a convertible in his motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested the same day, though he claimed he was not responsible. Oswald was shot and killed two days later in the Dallas police station.

    More than a third of Canadian respondents and just shy of half of Americans reported they do not believe the official account of the former president’s death.

    While the poll did not present alternative theories, many of the popular conspiracies about Kennedy’s assassination involve his then-vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson, the CIA, the mafia, and other countries including Cuba and Russia.

    About one-third of respondents from both countries say they think the car crash that killed Princess Diana in Paris in August 1997 was an assassination, rather than an accident.

    The same number of Canadians – 34 per cent – said they believe scientists and governments are withholding a known cure for cancer.

    Thirty-two per cent of Canadians and 51 per cent of Americans surveyed believe COVID-19 was created as a biological weapon in a lab.

    U.S. intelligence officials released a report in June that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, stating that American spy agencies are divided over how the pandemic began.

    That report said four intelligence agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, while two agencies – the Energy Department and the FBI – believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA has not made an assessment.

    The June report was met with anger from Republicans, some of whom argued at the time that a lab leak was the only option that made sense. The poll suggests 70 per cent of Republican voters believe in the lab leak theory.

    Republicans were also more likely to report they believe the government is hiding the truth about the harmfulness of vaccines, a conspiracy that had support from 63 per cent of GOP voters and 49 per cent of Americans overall.

    Those trends were reflected in the Canadian data, too: a third of those polled believe governments are lying about vaccines, but that number jumps to 45 per cent of Conservative-leaning voters.


    Among the four major political parties in Canada, Tory voters lead the way in believing in every one of the conspiracies presented in the poll except for one: half of Bloc Québécois voters are unconvinced by the official account of JFK’s assassination.

    A quarter of Conservative supporters say they think the 2020 U.S. election was rigged and stolen from Donald Trump. That’s eight points above the Canadian average of 17 per cent, but well shy of the 57 per cent of Republicans who think the same.

    A regional breakdown suggests Albertans are most likely to believe there’s a secret global elite working to establish a world government, at 44 per cent, and that feminism is a strategy to enable women to control society, at 19 per cent.

    The feminism control theory was almost twice as popular among Canadian men than women.

    ​

    #2
    Coming from the poster who espouses his own conspiracy about greedflation.

    Comment


      #3
      and dont know what a woman is

      Comment


        #4
        "the government is hiding the truth about the harmfulness of vaccines, a conspiracy that had support from 63 per cent of GOP voters and 49 per cent of Americans overall.​"

        That's pretty darn high, say 50%, have doubts. I feel better now thanks!

        Comment


          #5
          I realize polls are taken seriously.
          On the other hand, I've never been asked for or answered one other than farm related. Even those I quit years ago.
          Seems to me the same people answer polls as call in to talk radio.
          Or give interviews at the trailer park after the twister.

          Comment


            #6
            Not surprising. Since the explosion of social media quack conspiracies spread like wildfire. It is easier to spread falsehoods like genetic modification through vaccination. Just sit back and realize how crazy that is. If it was that easy scientist would be doing it for all kinds of illnesses.

            Comment


              #7
              Conservatives have a brain and know how to use it.

              Comment


                #8
                You have to distinguish conservative thinking from the right wing wackos that live in the conspiratorial world. They are not traditional conservatives. I consider myself a traditional conservative that lives in the real world of fiscal conservativenes and work ethic. I will leave the B.S. about social issues to the extremists.
                Last edited by agstar77; Dec 4, 2023, 13:11.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by agstar77 View Post
                  . I consider myself a traditional conservative that lives in the real world of fiscal conservativenes and work ethic .
                  Originally posted by sumdumguy View Post
                  Conservatives have a brain and know how to use it.
                  One of these statements is incompatible with the other.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by agstar77 View Post
                    Not surprising. Since the explosion of social media quack conspiracies spread like wildfire. It is easier to spread falsehoods like genetic modification through vaccination. Just sit back and realize how crazy that is. If it was that easy scientist would be doing it for all kinds of illnesses.
                    so what would be your thoughts on gates saying we will control population , one of the ways will be with vaccines he said ,since he has said next plandemic will realy get peoples attention , their is vids of him saying just that unless they have been all deleted at this stage , also vid of shwab saying we control half of canadas cabinet , very hard to draw a line on what is conspiracy or not

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Population control is old news. China tried it , now they are in deep doo doo. There have always been a need to strike a balance between population and our ability to support it. There will be more pandemics , but they won't be planned ,there just will be. Those kind of speculations are just grist for conspiracy mills. No one person either a Gates or Soros can shape the future.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        why do they say what they plan to do so ? and are people conspiracy believers if they take them serious ? why did they do the pandemic stimulation in 2019 ?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Because Left-Wing Lunatics are unable to engage their own brains, they have no choice but to believe their idols, even if they are paid-off prophets with fork-tongues. Then LWLunatics can just call the painful truths conspiracy theories.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            So why is every government health agency in Canada whether in a Conservative, Liberal or NDP province recommending getting vaccinated for covid and flu? Are they all left wingers? LOL

                            Good health care advice is based on science and evidence not politics.

                            More conservatives fall for unproven conspiracies because many are anti science.
                            Last edited by chuckChuck; Dec 5, 2023, 06:51.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              And the simple liberals would believe anything the paid off media says

                              Comment

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