conspiracy theories

Americans who attend church frequently are more likely to view QAnon favorably, poll finds

Americans who attend church services at least once a month are more likely to view the QAnon conspiracy theory favorably than those who attend less frequently, an Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday finds. On the other end of the spectrum, Americans who say they never go to church are the most likely to view QAnon unfavorably.

The Economist reports it was seeking to test two theories, one being that Americans "who have no religious affiliation find themselves attracted to other causes, such as the Q craze." The other, which has been posited by the likes of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), is that "modern strains of Christian evangelicalism ... do not satisfy all worshipers," causing them to "find community and salvation in other groups, such as QAnon."

The findings suggest the first theory likely isn't the case, while the analysis of the second one is more muddled. Though The Economist and YouGov do have data on how frequently people attend church, the survey doesn't dive into how satisfied individuals feel with their church community. "It is not clear whether those who have a favorable opinion of QAnon do so because they want membership of a social group, as Mr. Sasse and others claim, or because they are merely more suspectible to conspiratorial thinking," The Economist writes.

The poll was conducted between July 10-13 among 1,500 American adults. The margin of error was 3 percentage points. Read more at The Economist.