Despite years of media fulmination over the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory, a new poll from Morning Consult has some promising news. An overwhelming majority of adults report having never heard of QAnon, with nearly three in four respondents claiming they have either heard “nothing at all” or “not much” about it.
Although QAnon has been identified with support for President Trump, far fewer Trump supporters have heard of the conspiracy theory than those who dislike Trump and voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Three in four of those with a favorable opinion of Trump have heard either nothing or not much about QAnon, while just 8% report hearing “a lot” about it. By contrast, seven in ten respondents who hold unfavorable opinions of Trump claim they’ve heard either nothing or not much about it.
The divide is even more pronounced among 2016 vote preferences. Nearly two in five Clinton voters have heard either “a lot” or “some” about QAnon, whereas a little more than a quarter of all Trump voters report the same. Respondents from the South report the lowest familiarity with QAnon of any geographical region. Non-Christians and urban residents also post significantly higher familiarity with the conspiracy theory than Christians and suburban and rural folks. White and Hispanic respondents post nearly identical rates of familiarity with it, and both have heard more frequently about it than black respondents.
When you ask strictly about ideological leanings, twice as many liberals than conservatives report hearing a lot or some about QAnon. The only other divide than ideology as pronounced is income, with 42% of six-figure earners hearing a lot or some about QAnon and just 22% of those earning less than $50,000 hearing the same.
Yet the topline shared by Morning Consult is not the wonderful news that most Americans, and even more of the demographics QAnon is supposedly meant to appeal to, have no familiarity with the crackpot conspiracy theory is that “one-quarter of social media users who have heard of QAnon say they believe the group’s conspiracy theories are at least somewhat accurate,” blaming Republicans in particular.
The operative phrase here, “who have heard of QAnon,” is doing the heavy lifting.
When asked how accurate respondents think QAnon is “based on what” respondents know, the overwhelming majority of Americans, across party lines, either report having no opinion or claiming it’s very or somewhat inaccurate. Only 23% of people overall call it very or somewhat accurate, 4 points fewer than those who have heard a lot or some about it.
Belief in QAnon’s accuracy doesn’t fall cleanly along the lines of the narrative pushed by the media. 17% of both Christians and non-Christians deem QAnon somewhat or very accurate. Around two in five urban respondents and Trump supporters claim it’s somewhat or very accurate — despite about half as many Trump supporters reporting hearing some or a lot about it.
Belief in QAnon also correlates with education. Whereas fewer than one in five non-college attendees calls it very or somewhat accurate, two in five post-grads believe in it.
And despite the fact that QAnon devotees are supposed to believe that Clinton is involved in some global child sex trafficking ring, nearly one in five Clinton voters call QAnon somewhat or very accurate!
In short, this poll proves that very few people know anything about QAnon, and even fewer agree with it. What’s more, those most likely even to know about the conspiracy theory are wealthy, city-dwelling Clinton supporting liberals.
