Pollsters blow up claim that QAnon is popular because people stopped going to church

Some conservatives in recent months have speculated that more Americans are believing in QAnon because they don’t go to church as much anymore and instead look to conspiracy theories to fill the void.

However, Economist Pollster G. Elliott Morris on Tuesday shared new data showing that the exact opposite is true — namely, that church-going evangelical Christians are the most likely to believe in QAnon.

“And it’s not just QAnon,” Morris adds. “Our Economist/YouGov data show white evangelical Christians are also disproportion likely to believe other conspiracies — eg about the 2020 election, but also about vaccines and the moon landing. True even after controlling for demographics and politics.”

In contrast to this, writes Morris, people who express no religious beliefs are the “least credulous” about conspiracy theories about Bill Gates using vaccines to implant people with microchips.

Pollster Daniel Cox of the American Survey Center replied to Morris’s tweet and essentially confirmed his findings in his own poll.

“This is consistent with our work as well,” he wrote. “Evangelical Republicans are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.”

@gelliottmorris @BenSasse This is consistent with our work as well. Evangelical Republicans are more likely to beli… https://t.co/v40R284mJE

— Daniel Cox (@dcoxpolls)
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