QAnon is no longer a “fringe” conspiracy theory; the far-fetched belief system – which asserts that the United States is controlled by Satan-worshiping pedophiles – has entered the mainstream.
Those are the findings of a new poll, which reveals that 14% of Americans believe in the core tenets of QAnon. That equates to approximately thirty million people and makes QAnon more popular than some major religions.
“Thinking about QAnon, if it were a religion, it would be as big as all white evangelical Protestants, or all white mainline Protestants,” said Robby Jones to the New York Times. Jones is the founder of P.R.R.I., which conducted the poll.
Jones said the poll identified three major components of QAnon and asked respondents about them. Some aspects of QAnon are more commonly believed than others. Twenty percent of respondents said that they thought a biblical-scale storm would soon sweep away the evil elites who control the levers of power in America and “restore the rightful leaders.”
In addition, fifteen percent of Americans indicated that they think a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles runs the country. The same share said it was true that “American patriots may have to resort to violence” to depose the pedophiles and restore the country’s rightful order.
The poll found that belief in all three of QAnon’s core tenets is particularly high among Republicans – 1 in 4 expressed support for all three tenets.
The New York Times explains how consumption of rightwing media correalates with belief in QAnon:
Among those who said they most trusted far-right news outlets, such as One America News Network and Newsmax, two in five qualified as full-on QAnon believers. Fully 48 percent of these news consumers said they expected a storm to wipe away the elites soon.
That puts these news consumers far out of alignment with the rest of the country — even fans of the conservative-leaning Fox News. Among respondents who preferred Fox News above other sources, 18 percent were QAnon believers.
During his presidency, Donald Trump refused to condemn QAnon saying, “I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.”
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, expressed support for QAnon before she was elected, but has since walked back her comments.