Exploring the Differential Impacts of Conspiracy Theories Amongst Those on the Far-Right and Far-Left

This paper examines the harmful impacts of different conspiracy theories on individuals' willingness to engage in different violent extremist behaviours. We test whether and individuals' far left- or far-right political ideology moderates the effects of conspiracy theories on violent extremist intentions. In other words, we aim to test the hypotheses that it is not solely the conspiratorial ideas by themselves, but the political, group and personal ecosystem in which these ideas reside which influences the impact. The data is based on a UK nationally representative survey (by age, gender, and ethnicity). A series of moderation analyses examined the expected interactive effects between left vs. right political orientation and the following conspiratorial beliefs: (1) Anti-Government Conspiracy Beliefs, (2) QAnon Conspiracy Beliefs, (3) Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Beliefs, (4) Anti-Vax Conspiracy Beliefs, (5) Anti-Science Conspiracy Beliefs, (6) Conspiracy Mentality. For both extremes, anti-Government conspiracy beliefs, QAnon conspiracy beliefs, and conspiracy mentality show a significant relationship with violent extremist intentions. Additionally, for those on the far-right - anti-semitic, anti-Vax, and anti-science conspiracy beliefs show a significant relationship with violent extremist intentions. Across all conspiratorial beliefs, the effect sizes were consistently stronger amongst those on the far-right.