The people most likely to believe in conspiracy theories tend to share certain political views that combine a desire for left-wing economic policies with conservative cultural values. A recent analysis published in the journal Political Psychology mapped the ideological coordinates of conspiracy theories across Europe and found that conspiracy theories thrive in very precise corners of the political landscape. The results point out that people who aspire to economic equality but demand strict cultural harmony are particularly likely to believe that secret conspiracies control world events.
Conspiracy theories attract a diverse range of figures, from health influencers to marginalized workers to political radicals. Psychologists have spent years studying the personality traits that make them susceptible to such beliefs, but less attention has been paid to the actual political demands of these individuals. Florian Buchmeyer, a sociologist at the University of Bremen in Germany, wanted to understand what specific policy preferences unite people who believe there is a hidden agenda behind major events. Buchmeyer and co-author Andre Crewel set out to map the political profile of conspiracy theorists beyond simple labels of liberal or conservative.
Asking someone to place themselves on a basic left-to-right scale rarely captures their actual policy preferences. Early research suggested that conspiracy theories were simply a feature of political extremes, appearing equally on the far left and far right. Other analyzes noted a stronger concentration on the political right. These inconsistencies in past results are likely due to the way political ideology is measured, prompting researchers to take a multidimensional approach.
To investigate this, researchers analyzed data from the European Voter Election Survey, which surveyed tens of thousands of respondents in 13 countries. The survey measured general conspiracy psychology, which is a person’s underlying tendency to believe that secret organizations orchestrate major events. Respondents indicated a level of agreement with statements suggesting that secret organizations have a significant influence on political decisions and that seemingly unrelated events are often the result of covert operations.
To map the political landscape, researchers measured attitudes across three different aspects of public debate. The first was economic redistribution, focusing on whether taxes on the rich should be raised to help the poor and whether companies should prioritize profits over fair wages. The second dimension was immigration, assessing whether respondents felt that immigrants were culturally enriching their country or that there were too many foreigners. The third dimension focused on authoritarianism, measuring the desire for strong leadership and the belief that government should uphold traditional moral standards.
By analyzing these aspects, researchers were able to classify individuals into 27 unique attitudinal profiles. They found that certain profiles clearly stood out more than others. Individuals who combined left-wing economic views with conservative cultural and anti-immigrant views recorded the highest levels of conspiratorial thinking.
The researchers termed this ideological fusion the state-authoritarian solidarity profile. This group of people wants strong state intervention to protect workers and redistribute wealth. At the same time, they want to limit these economic benefits to culturally homogeneous indigenous peoples.
The authors suggest that this group mourns a lost paradise and idealizes a vision of a postwar society characterized by low economic inequality and high cultural homogeneity. For these people, conspiracy theories can serve as a psychological tool to make sense of the disturbing modernization process that has destroyed their ideal world. By blaming hidden forces, they can explain cultural changes they see as destructive.
The study also identified the demographics least likely to hold these thoughts. The distinction belongs to individuals who hold right-wing views on economics but progressive views on cultural issues. These people support free markets and low taxes, while embracing immigration and rejecting authoritarian leadership, making them highly resistant to grand conspiracy theories.
There is a clear contradiction in the relationship between conspiracy theories and authoritarianism. Conspiracy theorists often claim to be rebels fighting against malevolent elites or oppressive governments. However, survey data shows that they strongly prefer strict authority and obedience.
Researchers explain this dynamic by referring to older theories about authoritarian personalities. These people often act rebellious because they see current democratic institutions as weak or corrupted by hidden conspiracies. Their ultimate goal is not a society without rules, but obedience to a new leader with the power to subdue conspirators.
This basic pattern in the data did not vary by social class or educational level. Although people with lower incomes and less formal education were generally more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, the particular combination of left-wing economics and right-wing culture was consistent across the socio-economic spectrum. Conspiracy thinking acts like a gravitational force, pulling individuals from different demographic backgrounds into the exact same ideological center.
Wealthy college-educated individuals who believe in conspiracy theories hold far more economically progressive and culturally conservative views than their wealthy peers who reject such theories. The same applies to working class people. Whatever the starting point, belief in a secret conspiracy coincides with a very specific set of policy demands.
There are few mainstream parties in the Western European political landscape that respond to this specific set of demands. Traditional left-wing parties typically embrace progressive cultural values, while traditional conservative parties lean toward free market economics. This dynamic has left state-authoritarian solidarity groups feeling politically displaced.
These people lack mainstream representation and therefore exhibit high levels of distrust in political institutions. When people actually vote, data shows that they vote disproportionately for radical right-wing populist parties. These parties recognize the appeal of combining vague promises of economic protection with aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric.
Right-wing populist leaders frequently use conspiracy theories to mobilize this very group of voters. By portraying cultural change and economic struggles as the deliberate work of shadowy elites, these politicians speak directly to this demographic’s critical anxieties. Voting for these parties serves as an expression of their anti-establishment worldview.
The authors note that because the study relies on observational survey data, a precise timeline of cause and effect cannot be established. Having a certain attitude about taxes or immigration doesn’t automatically make you a conspiracy-minded person. It is equally possible that viewing the world through the lens of secret conspiracies can shape an individual’s policy preferences over time.
Future research could investigate how these ideological combinations function outside of Europe, especially in highly polarized two-party systems like the United States. Tracking these attitudinal profiles over different election cycles can also reveal whether events such as economic downturns push more citizens into the center of this conspiracy. By understanding where conspiracy theories are rooted, we can gain a clearer picture of modern electoral dynamics.
The study, “Epicenter of conspiracy theories: economically left-leaning and culturally regressive places in the political landscape,” was authored by Florian Buchmeyer and André Crewel.
