Conspiracy theories, Trump and Brexit have a link: Study

LONDON: Those who voted for Brexit and US President Donald Trump are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories - from the denial of science to takeover plots by Muslim immigrants in Europe - according to a research at the University of Cambridge.

Conspiracy theories have become “mainstream rather than marginal beliefs” across much of Europe and the US, the research that was released on Friday suggests.

It says Trump’s supporters and Brexit voters were more likely to believe that climate change is a hoax, vaccines are harmful, and a group of people “secretly control events and rule the world together”.

Nearly one-third of the people in the UK and France think their governments are “hiding the truth” about immigration, the research claims.

The research was conducted as part of the university’s Conspiracy and Democracy Project, and is based on a survey done by the Yougov-cambridge Centre.

It covers nine countries – the US, the UK, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and Hungary.

Researcher Hugo Leal says anti-immigration conspiracy theories have been “gaining ground” since the 2015 refugee crisis. “The conspiratorial perception that governments are deliberately hiding the truth about the levels of migration appears to be backed by a considerable portion of the population across much of Europe and the US,” he said.

Almost half of the respondents who voted for Brexit (47%) and Trump (44%) believe their government is hiding the truth about immigration, compared with 14% of anti-brexit voters and 12% of Hillary Clinton voters.

The researchers also set out to measure the extent of the belief in a conspiracy theory known as ‘the great replacement’ - the idea that Muslim immigration is part of a bigger plan to make Muslims the majority of a country’s population. “A telling takeaway of the study is that conspiracy theories are nowadays mainstream rather than marginal beliefs,” Leal said.

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Citing vehement denials by