Conspiratorial Thinking and Dueling Fact Perceptions

Abstract

Polarized perceptions of facts have become a defining feature of American politics. Scholars have described this phenomenon as contested facts, misinformation, cultural cognition, partisan facts, and dueling fact perceptions. But is there a connection between conspiratorial thinking and dueling facts? Are conspiratorial thinkers more likely to have different perceptions of climate change, the national debt, racism, or several other disputed facts like the safety of GMOs or the origins of sexual orientation? Recent survey evidence suggests that conspiratorial thinking is strongly related to some of the most prominent dueling fact perceptions on both right and left, grounded in rejection of scientific and scholarly consensus.