Does Country Setting Make a Difference? A Cross‐National Study on the Relationship Between Political Ideology and Conspiracy Mentality

Daniel Stockemer and Jean‐Nicolas Bordeleau

Social Science Quarterly, 2025, vol. 106, issue 4

Abstract: Objective The objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between political ideology and conspiracy beliefs across various country settings. In doing so, this research builds on the academic debate of whether the effect of left‐right ideological placement on conspiracy beliefs is linear, curvilinear (i.e., people to the extremes have a higher likelihood to believe in conspiracy theories), or tilted to the right (i.e., the likelihood of individuals believing in conspiracy theories increases for people on the [far] right of the political spectrum). Methods We rely on original cross‐national data from eight countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Lebanon, Morocco, South Africa, and the United States) to investigate the strength and shape of the ideology‐conspiracy belief relationship (N = 8101). Results Our results show that the relationship between political ideology is context specific. We also display that a simple categorical modeling strategy capturing the left, right, and center can provide an equally well if not a better model fit in some countries than the more complicated polynomial regression models that previous research suggest. Conclusion The relationship between political ideology and conspiracy theories is one that is highly dependent on context. This research warns researchers to consider the country context of a study before making methodological and analytical choices in studying political ideology and conspiracy beliefs.

Date: 2025
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