Populist Attitudes, Conspiracy Beliefs and the Justification of Political Violence at the US 2020 Elections

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6343263
AutoresSebastian Jungkunz (0000-0003-1040-8635, University of Bonn, autor de correspondencia), Robert A Fahey (0000-0002-6231-2881, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan), Airo Hino (0000-0001-5141-106X, Waseda University)
Año2025
Volumen73
Número2
Páginas592-611
Fecha de publicación2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00323217241259229
OpenAlexW4401126396
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas63

The months around the US 2020 presidential election were characterized by polarization, populism, conspiracy theories, and violent acts, far exceeding usual out-party animosity in western democracies. Using an original two-wave panel survey fielded before the election in November 2020 (n = 3111) and after the inauguration in January 2021 (n = 3384), supported with data from the American National Election Study (ANES, n = 3080), we investigate the dynamics of political violence justification and its connection with populist attitudes and conspiracy beliefs. While we find that conspiracy beliefs are associated with higher justification of violence, the relationship with populist attitudes is mixed, and mostly depends on whether people believe in conspiracy theories or not—with populist attitudes being associated with greater political violence justification among those who believe conspiracy theories, while having no or even a negative correlation among those who do not. Finally, results from fixed-effects models provide some evidence for a temporal interpretation of the relationships, indicating that an increase in conspiracy beliefs is strongly and consistently associated with an increased willingness to justify violence

Interpretation (philosophy · Motivated reasoning · Panel survey · Polarization (electrochemistry · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Populism · Presidential election · Presidential system · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Survey data collection · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Psychology