From populism to the “plandemic”: why populists believe in COVID-19 conspiracies

IF 2 3区社会学 Q2 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties Pub Date : 2021-05-31 DOI:10.1080/17457289.2021.1924730

Jakob-Moritz Eberl, Robert A. Huber, Esther Greussing

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引用次数: 93

Abstract

ABSTRACT Why are COVID-19 conspiracy theories so prevalent? Particularly, why would some citizens ignore scientific evidence and common logic but, instead, be convinced that COVID-19 was a military experiment or spread by 5G signals? Why would they believe that Bill Gates had anything to do with it? In this contribution, we argue that populism is at the centre of these beliefs, as the complex nature of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it an ideal playground for populists’ opposition to scientific and political elites. We use Structural Equation Models and panel survey data (n = 823) from the Austrian Corona Panel Project to test this argument. We demonstrate a negative correlation of populist attitudes with both trust in political and scientific institutions, which, in return, negatively relate to COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. This results in an overall positive relationship of populist attitudes and conspiracy beliefs that is independent of political ideology. These findings have important implications for elite communication regarding virus mitigation.

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从民粹主义到“流行病”:为什么民粹主义者相信COVID-19阴谋

为什么COVID-19阴谋论如此盛行?特别是，为什么一些公民无视科学证据和普遍逻辑，反而相信新冠病毒是军事实验或通过5G信号传播?为什么他们会相信比尔·盖茨与此事有关?在这篇文章中，我们认为民粹主义是这些信念的核心，因为COVID-19大流行的复杂性使其成为民粹主义者反对科学和政治精英的理想场所。我们使用结构方程模型和来自奥地利电晕面板项目的面板调查数据(n = 823)来验证这一论点。我们证明了民粹主义态度与对政治和科学机构的信任呈负相关，而这反过来又与COVID-19阴谋信念呈负相关。这导致了民粹主义态度和阴谋信仰之间的总体正相关关系，而这种关系独立于政治意识形态。这些发现对有关病毒缓解的精英沟通具有重要意义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

4.00

自引率

5.60%

发文量