Conspiracy theories, misinformation, COVID-19, and the 2020 election

Democrats and Republicans both believe in conspiracy theories, but different ones.

Sixty percent of Democrats believe Russia has damaging information about Donald Trump, a belief shared by only one in three Americans overall.
A majority (59 percent) of Republicans are convinced that there has been a coordinated effort by “unelected government officials” to undermine the Trump administration.
Roughly four in 10 Americans are familiar with the QAnon conspiracy theory, and only 16 percent of Americans who have heard or read at least a little about these conspiracies say they are accurate.

Despite the widespread coverage of the anti-vaxxer movement, very few American believe that vaccines are responsible for autism. Ten percent of Americans say the statement “childhood vaccines have been shown to cause autism” is mostly or completely accurate.