QAnon may be a cult, but it's as big as Methodist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches combined

There is, not surprisingly, a sizable partisan divide in the people who believe in QAnon, the "outlandish and ever-evolving conspiracy theory" that a "cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles" runs the world, The New York Times reports. A new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core, released Thursday, found that 23 percent of Republicans, 12 percent of independents, and 7 percent of Democrats are QAnon believers.
Overall, the poll found, 14 percent of Americans believe in QAnon, 46 percent reject it outright, and 40 percent are doubters but don't rule it all out. When the pollsters asked specific questions — about whether "a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles" and child sex traffickers control the U.S. "media, government, and financial worlds," if "a storm" will soon "sweep away the elites" and "restore the rightful leaders," and whether "true American patriots may have to resort to violence" to "save" America — those numbers rose to 15 or 20 percent.
"These are words I never thought I would write into a poll question, or have the need to, but here we are," PRRI founder Robby Jones told the Times. "Thinking about QAnon, if it were a religion, it would be as big as all white evangelical Protestants, or all white mainline Protestants," he added. "So it lines up there with a major religious group."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Combining the percentage of respondents who said they believed in the core QAnon tenets and the U.S. population, "that's more than 30 million people," Jones told the Times. Pew found that there were 36 million mainline Protestants in 2014, a drop of 5 million from seven years earlier, and both Pew and PRRI say fewer than 15 percent of Americans are mainline Protestants, a tradition that includes the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the Episcopal Church.
PRRI and IFYC surveyed a random sample of 5,149 adults in all 50 states who are part of the Ipsos Knowledge Panel. The interviews were conducted online March 9-30, and the margin of error is ±1.5 percentage points.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
8 hotels that show off the many facets of Japan
The Week Recommends Choose your own modern or traditional adventure
-
10 Editorial cartoons for August 29
Cartoons Friday’s political cartoons include a modest NRA proposal, Smithsonian revised, and the difference between Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln's hats
-
The AI bubble and a potential stock market crash
Today's Big Question Valuations of some AI start-ups are 'insane', says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
-
DC prosecutors lose bid to indict sandwich thrower
Speed Read Prosecutors sought to charge Sean Dunn with assaulting a federal officer
-
White House fires new CDC head amid agency exodus
Speed Read CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted after butting heads with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official says
Speed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policing
Speed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Speed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportation
Speed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other cities
speed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore