[236dev]

Interestingly enough liberals are more likely to know about QAnon than conservatives. I listen to both right wing and left wing podcasts+news and the times I hear about QAnon are on left wing ones. I'm not sure what to make of this.

Edit: genuinely curious why I'm being downvoted, I found this pretty interesting

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/30/qanons-cons...

[JadeNB]

> Interestingly enough liberals are more likely to know about QAnon than conservatives. I listen to both right wing and left wing podcasts+news and the times I hear about QAnon are on left wing ones. I'm not sure what to make of this.

Doesn't that just show that liberals are more likely to talk about it, at least in the sources to which you listen, than that they are more likely to know about it?

For example, one explanation—which seems plausible to me, but which I do not claim is the truth—of the observed facts is that conservatives who aren't QAnon believers don't want to discuss what they see as a fringe position within their party, whereas conservatives who are believers only discuss their beliefs with those they feel are, or might become, initiates. I can also believe that liberals would be both more frightened by these beliefs, hence more likely to talk about them, and more motivated to highlight what they perceive as fringe or embarrassing beliefs of their ideological opponents.

[236dev]

The more a podcast or news station talks about something, the more their listeners know about it.

[DFHippie]

I think you've diagnosed it.

[Barrin92]

>Interestingly enough liberals are more likely to know about QAnon than conservatives

probably because the kind of people who discusss QAnon as a phenomenon are more likely to be young, actively engaged in (digital) politics and possibly more educated, which correlates with political leaning, in particuar in the last election. As Pew points out, NYT readers or NPR listeners are also much more likely to have heard of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if liberals score higher if you question US demographics about pretty much any internet phenomenon just because of the make up of the group.

[burlesona]

We have an “enemy-centric” political environment right now. I’ve seen this with much more than just Qanon. The strong Democrats I know can rattle off a long list of conspiracies and crimes on the right, and the strong Republicans I know can rattle off a long list of conspiracies and crimes on the left. Meanwhile when I say “this is what the other side says about your team” the reaction is almost universal puzzlement. “Who? That fringe group of crazies? They aren’t part of (my party).”

It’s quite amazing to watch.

[acdha]

This false equivalence falls apart as soon as you assess how widespread such beliefs are and whether they’re based in verifiable facts. There are leftie conspiracy theorists but there’s nowhere near the spread, especially at the senior levels of the party.

For example, Birtherism was easily disproven but persisted for years among a high percentage of Republicans and even among members of Congress, the current President, and many of his appointees. There’s nothing remotely equivalent on the Democratic side - you could probably find someone saying just about anything you imagine but they’re at the fringe rather than making official government actions based on those beliefs (remember Benghazi?)

[burlesona]

The data says this is a bipartisan problem:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-federal-clampdown-o...

As for “which side has more conspiracies,” I don’t think anyone can truly know which side is more or less out of touch with reality when each of us has some kind of affinity to one side or another and will thus have bias that tilts our perception.