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Conspiracy theories mostly rule among election losers

Social psychologists Haiyan Wang and Jan-Willem van Prooijen examined various conspiracy beliefs at the time of the 2020 US presidential election

'Conspiracy beliefs that the opposing party rigged the election changed over time as a result of the election results. Among people who voted Democratic, conspiracy beliefs that Trump was fraudulent decreased after the election. In contrast, among people who voted Republican, conspiracy beliefs that Biden was fraudulent increased after the election.', Haiyan Wang said.

Conspiracy theories
Another interesting point according to Wang and van Prooijen is that conspiracy theories about electoral fraud from the ‘other’ party were higher among Biden voters before the election than among Trump voters. After the election and the win for the Democrats, Trump voters shared more conspiracy theories than Biden voters.

The findings of Wang and Van Prooijen show that conspiracy theories are particularly prevalent among voters who voted for the losing party.

Other researchers’ work shows that after losing elections, people may feel powerless and threatened, leading them to believe in conspiracy theories as a way to blame others for their loss.

You can find the article of Wang and van Prooijen here.

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