Do Conspiracy Theories Undermine Support for Democracy?

Conspiracy theories are widely viewed as harmful to politics, and a growing number of studies have sought to identify their detrimental effects. Our study adds to this literature by examining whether brief, realistic exposure to conspiracy theories about a major political event can undermine individuals’ commitment to a broad set of democratic norms. We rely on two online survey experiments conducted in Brazil with a total of 8 thousand respondents. Participants assigned to the treatment conditions were exposed to conspiracy theories surrounding the stabbing of then–presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro during a campaign event; control group participants viewed either the official account of the event or unrelated content. Subsequently, participants answered questions about democratic norms, institutional trust, and political hostility. We find some evidence that exposure to conspiracy theories reduces support for democracy, particularly in the electoral dimension. Surprisingly, non-partisans are more affected than partisans. Results also indicate that exposure to conspiracy theories reduces institutional trust but does not affect political hostility. However, the effects of conspiracy theories are not consistent across narratives, emerging more clearly in the one that blames the right for the event. These findings underscore the nuanced and specific nature of the influence of conspiracy theories on democratic values, which can help calibrate our concerns about these narratives.

Political Behavior, 48(1)