Conspiracy Theories: Poll Results

[Hervé]

From http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/12-million-americans-believe-lizard-people-run-our-country/63799/:

12 Million Americans Believe Lizard People Run Our Country
Philip Bump (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/authors/philip-bump/) , Apr 2, 2013

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2013/04/02/LizardMan/large.jpg
Reuters / Atlantic Wire

About 90 million Americans believe aliens exist. Some 66 million of us think aliens landed at Roswell in 1948. These are the things you learn when there's a lull in political news and pollsters get to ask whatever questions they want.

Public Policy Polling has raised weird polls to an art form. During last year's presidential campaign, the firm earned a bit of a reputation (http://www.businessinsider.com/ppp-poll-questions-public-policy-polling-funny-quirky-obama-romney-2012-11) for its unorthodox questions; for example, "If God exists, do you approve of its handling of natural disasters?"

Today PPP released the results of a national survey looking at common conspiracy theories (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/04/conspiracy-theory-poll-results-.html). Broken down by topic and cross-referenced by political preference, the results will not inspire a lot of patriotism. If you need to defend your fellow countrymen, be sure to note that the margin of error is 2.8 percent.

We took the findings and arranged them from most- to least-believed. And, just to inspire additional shame, figured out how many actual Americans [...] must believe in things like the danger of fluoride in water. (28 million, if you're wondering.)

View the full question (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_National_ConspiracyTheories_040213.pdf) asked for each conspiracy.


ConspiracyPercent believingNumber of Americans believing:

JFK was killed by conspiracy......................51 percent.........160,096,160

Bush intentionally misled on Iraq WMDs......44 percent.........138,122,178

Global warming is a hoax...........................37 percent.........116,148,195

Aliens exist...............................................29 percent..........91,035,072

New World Order.......................................28 percent..........87,895,931

Hussein was involved in 9/11.....................28 percent..........87,895,931

A UFO crashed at Roswell...........................21 percent..........65,921,948

Vaccines are linked to autism.....................20 percent..........62,782,808

The government controls minds with TV (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/tv-shows-gay-marriage/63765/)......15 percent..........47,087,106

Medical industry invents diseases..............15 percent..........47,087,106

CIA developed crack.................................14 percent..........43,947,966

Bigfoot exists...........................................14 percent..........43,947,966

Obama is the Antichrist.............................13 percent..........40,808,825

The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent..........34,530,544

Fluoride is dangerous.................................9 percent..........28,252,264

The moon landing was faked.......................7 percent..........21,973,983

Bin Laden is alive.......................................6 percent..........18,834,842

Airplane contrails are sinister chemicals......5 percent..........15,695,702

McCartney died in 1966..............................5 percent..........15,695,702

Lizard people control politics......................4 percent..........12,556,562

Just to further inspire conversation, PPP broke down belief in each theory by whom the respondent supported in the 2012 election. This yielded some genuinely interesting results.

[see graph at linked article (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/12-million-americans-believe-lizard-people-run-our-country/63799/)]

For example, only three conspiracies were more commonly believed by Obama supporters: that Bush intentionally misled America about Iraq's WMDs (a massive 69 percent of his supporters believe that one), that the CIA launched the crack epidemic, and that the moon landing was faked.

There are two theories with equal support among Obama and Romney supporters: that aliens exist and the one about fluoridation.

Everything else, from lizard people to vaccines and autism to global warming being a hoax? Believed by more Romney supporters.

No conspiracy was less commonly believed than one suggesting that the government is populated by lizard people. But that's mostly because only 2 percent of Obama supporters believe the theory while 5 percent of Romney supporters do.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/12-million-americans-believe-lizard-people-run-our-country/63799/#dsq-content) or send an email to the author at pbump@theatlantic.com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/open-wire/).

Sources


Conspiracy Theory Poll Results (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/04/conspiracy-theory-poll-results-.html), Public Policy Polling

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Although the article dismisses the whole thing under the "Belief" tab, this gives some numbers to chew on as to the effectiveness of whistle blowing and/or gov. psyops...

[Prodigal Son]

it still looks like 19 out of 20 americans are brain dead

in particular i find this troubling:


The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent

[christian]

in particular i find this troubling:


The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent

Indeed, but I don't quite believe that number. From what I heard, polling institutes get paid to produce certain results actually, I'm always suspicious of any poll really.

There have been other polls in the past where the number of people not believing the official story of 9-11 was significantly higher.

nlPweD6R3Cc

[Selene]

On the other hand, I’m encouraged by these numbers overall. More than a few of them have slipped beyond the ‘critical mass’ (whatever that may be) to now be well and truly entering the mainstream of American consciousness.

And getting people to consider at all that their government has deliberately lied to them – on any meaningful issue – is probably the biggest hurdle to waking them up. That nut has been cracked now.

They’ve peeked into the rabbit hole and found “something interesting”. And now they’ll keep looking.

And – vitally for us – they didn’t get these views from the mainstream media. These numbers overall are a stunning confirmation of the growing power of bloggers, altmedia, and the internet in general to get the truth out. Ordinary people are listening. And learning.

I don’t think it’s too little, too late either. Like the rapid shift in gay rights support, the trickle can quickly become a flood as people begin to realize that others share their views. No wonder ‘cyberwarfare’ is one of the secret government’s key concerns: we’re winning.

Best news I’ve had in a while. Mwahahahaha….

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1503/onward.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/onward.jpg/)

Cheers,

Selene

[TargeT]

anyone else read any of these and think " but that's not a conspiracy" (fluoride etc...)

I'm with Christan on this one, I don't buy that poll it was only 1,200ish people and who knows the area, demographics etc... (for example bible belt responds much differently than pasific northwest etc..)


Do you believe the United States government
knowingly allowed the attacks on September
11th, 2001, to happen, or not?
Do ................................................................... 11%
Do not ............................................................. 78%
Not sure .......................................................... 11%

Well, that shows how strong the propiganda machine is... only 11% in doubt... wow.

[Prodigal Son]

in particular i find this troubling:


The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent

Indeed, but I don't quite believe that number. From what I heard, polling institutes get paid to produce certain results actually, I'm always suspicious of any poll really.



I agree with you, but from my personal dealings with people, I'm afraid the number must be still well below a third. I could be wrong. But what encourages me are the numbers from overseas, in Germany for example it is over 90%... I've been there, I've spoken to lots of people, I've watched the news there...when they didn't speak English, my girlfriend fluently translated everything for me, and that number is very real.

[Dennis Leahy]

it still looks like 19 out of 20 americans are brain dead

in particular i find this troubling:


The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent
I don't believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen - factions of the US government were co-conspirators, not opportunists that allowed a foreign plot. This theory is referred to as LIHOP (Let It Happen On Purpose), and I believe is easily blown out of the water by having secure buildings wired with explosives in advance and multiple military "exercises" sending many fighter jets away and mimicking the exact same scenario that was happening. So, I would have answered that question with a "NO."

Often, poll results are highly skewed even before the first respondent's answers are recorded - skewed by the phrasing of the questions.

It also makes me think of the famous yes/no question: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" (Answering "yes" says you used to beat your wife; answering "no" says you are still beating your wife.)

Dennis

[Prodigal Son]

I don't believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen - factions of the US government were co-conspirators, not opportunists that allowed a foreign plot. This theory is referred to as LIHOP (Let It Happen On Purpose), and I believe is easily blown out of the water by having secure buildings wired with explosives in advance and multiple military "exercises" sending many fighter jets away and mimicking the exact same scenario that was happening. So, I would have answered that question with a "NO."


Yes I thought of that, and that was why I found it particularly troubling, because most of us here know that they planned and co-ordinated it and then let it happen. The "letting it happen" part is a kind of sanitized, watered-down version to allow a person to disagree with the official story without directly accusing anyone except Tim Osman and 19 imbeciles with boxcutters, and still the number was only 11%. I don't think the average American idiot is going to stop and reason it out the way you did and answer "no". But as always, I could mistaken.

I've seen polls for NYC that come in at close to 50 percent on a straight up "inside job" question, so the polls are probably skewed in both direction depending on who is trying to prove what.

Then there is the question as to what people will admit in public versus in a private conversation.... big difference there too.

Edit: Another really alarming thing in the OP is that evidently 49% of Americans still believe in the Magic Bullet. How pathetic is that if even remotely true?

[Maunagarjana]

it still looks like 19 out of 20 americans are brain dead

in particular i find this troubling:


The government allowed 9/11...................11 percent
I don't believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen - factions of the US government were co-conspirators, not opportunists that allowed a foreign plot. This theory is referred to as LIHOP (Let It Happen On Purpose), and I believe is easily blown out of the water by having secure buildings wired with explosives in advance and multiple military "exercises" sending many fighter jets away and mimicking the exact same scenario that was happening. So, I would have answered that question with a "NO."

I guess you could just leave unstated "yeah, they allowed themselves to attack the WTC"....then you could answer Yes. The question didn't ask *who* they were allowing. You just gotta be creative.

[Maunagarjana]

It would be interesting to see poll results of just Project Avalon, but really just to see what questions don't get 100% "Yes". Though I can say I'd answer "No" to a few (I don't believe Obama is the Antichrist), and I'm undecided about a few more (Vaccines cause Autism? Is it that simple?)

[Hervé]

Look at how long it took this guy to finally "see" (pun intended) what was right in front of his face and in a field he is an expert at and after being badgered by his wife for years:



ng4A_oxaDbo



About the guy:

Major General Albert Stubblebine III,

A key sponsor of the research internally at Fort Meade, MD, MG Stubblebine was convinced of the reality of a wide variety of psychic phenomena. He required that all of his Battalion Commanders learn how to bend spoons a la Uri Geller, and he himself attempted several psychic feats, even attempting to walk through walls. In the early 1980s he was responsible for the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), during which time the remote viewing project in the US Army began. Some commentators have confused a "Project Jedi", allegedly run by Special Forces primarily out of Fort Bragg, with Stargate. After some controversy involving these experiments and alleged security violations from uncleared civilian psychics working in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs), Major General Stubblebine was placed on retirement. His successor as the INSCOM commander was Major General Harry Soyster, who had a reputation as a much more conservative and conventional intelligence officer. MG Soyster was not amenable to continuing paranormal experiments and the Army's participation in Project Stargate ended during his tenure.

See this thread: Gen Stubblebine - Remote Viewing Works & 9/11 Was Inside Job (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?57277-Gen-Stubblebine-Remote-Viewing-Works-9-11-Was-Inside-Job)