Exploring the Relationship Between Conspiracy Theories and Populism

Though it is entirely absent from the political science literature, psychologists have long studied why people believe in conspiracy theories. Lack of trust and a pessimistic view of the world have been tied to conspiratorial beliefs and such beliefs have been shown to influence political participation and other pro-social behavior. This study explores the relationship between populism and conspiracies on the individual level by asking if people who are more susceptible to conspiracy theories are also people who are receptive to populist rhetoric. Using an MTurk pilot we test if and how the various dimensions of conspiratorial beliefs are related to susceptibility to populism. Then we explore the structure of the relationship and how much of it is mediated by known common correlates. Finding the relationship in these individual tendencies would go a long way to explain why so many endorsers of conspiracy theories are supporters of populist political forces.