Conspiracy Theory Beliefs and Political Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Communication

Abstract

A plentitude of research has analyzed citizens’ belief in conspiracy theories and its individual‐level correlates. Yet, the effects of (political) context factors on the causes and effects of individual belief in conspiracy theories are still neglected. However, such context should be especially relevant when it comes to the impact of one’s belief in conspiracy theories on one’s political preference. In this article, we argue that the communication of governmental actors exerts a moderating influence on the link leading from a belief in conspiracy theories to political attitudes. In a nutshell, the belief in conspiracy theories should make citizens less likely to distrust their government—and the political system in general—in contexts where these theories are shared or at least publicly represented by governmental actors. Using two original data sets with data from Germany, Poland, and Jordan (Study 1) and data from Germany, Poland, Sweden, and France (Study 2), we test our argument based on an overall sample of about 10,000 cases. Our results indicate that higher degrees of generic conspiracy theories beliefs are associated with higher levels of political distrust across countries. Yet, confirming our argument, such an effect takes place less strongly in those countries in which governmental actors use conspiracy theories as a political communication strategy.

The (d)Evil’s Portrayal in Hollywood Cinema and Television: Investigating the Socio-Cultural Context Through Popular Productions

“…Angel Heart (1987): Released during the late 1980s, Angel Heart can be seen as a reflection of the growing distrust (Tyler, Iyengar, 2023;Latkin, et al 2023) in institutions and the rise of conspiracy theories (Schlipphak et al, 2022) at the time.…”

The Role of Religions and Conspiracy Theories in Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes

“…Moreover, the author elaborates on the similar risks and functions of religions and conspiracy theories for the political community, without neglecting the fact that, under secular conditions, the spread of conspiracy narratives might outweigh that of religious messages in the long run. Schlipphak et al (2022) argue based on quantitative surveys that the communication of governmental actors exerts a strong moderating influence on the link leading from conspiracy theory beliefs to political attitudes. The authors suppose that the belief in conspiracy theories should make citizens more likely to distrust their government-and the political system in general-in contexts where these conspiracy theories are not shared or at least publicly represented by governmental actors.…”