Expert: Conspiracy Theories a Danger to Democracy this Election Cycle

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Conspiracy theories: they’ve been around since the founding fathers and it seems like there is a new one every day.

At Stetson University, political science professor Dr. Steven Smallpaige studies public opinion and voter psychology. He claims conspiracies theories have influenced elections throughout history. However, he believes they may be cause for concern this election cycle. 

“At the end of the day if conspiracy thinking undermines our ability not to disagree but to fundamentally not know what is really happening, thats very very dangerous for our democracy,” said Smallpaige.

Local political leaders are also no strangers to conspiracies this year.  

“They repeat all these things that have been said and whether it is right or wrong it sticks in peoples heads,” said Jewel Dickson, Chair of the Volusia County Democratic Party

Dickson runs the group’s social media pages and said that she sees conspiracies in her feed and messages daily. She’s claims she’s even confronted with them in person.

“They come up to us and say, ‘Why are you voting for someone who is a pedophile?’ And we say, ‘What are you talking about?’ And its some theory they’ve heard from QAnon or one of these groups,” said Dickson.

Across the county at the Volusia Republican Party headquarters, Republican State Committeeman Vic Baker runs their social media accounts.

“I don’t see much of this conspiracy theory crap coming through the conversations that are shared with me and I have personally, I have 3,300 Facebook followers,” Baker said. “Our Volusia County Republican Party has close to 10,000 and we are actively engaging in dialogue everyday.”

He explained that he mostly sees conspiracies in the media and considers them a non factor for Republicans. 

“I am finding that people are really educating themselves and this notion of certain sites, dark sites maybe, some people call them dark sites, QAnon, we don’t go there,” said Baker. “I don’t even visit those sites, I stay pretty much with the people I know I can trust”

Smallpaige said that his research suggests that people are very likely to believe conspiracy theories when they hear them. 

“Most Americans believe at least one conspiracy. Now, of course, you can say, ‘Well not me,’ but if you go down the list of the moon landing to Area 51 to JKF to 9/11 truther to the birther conspiracy to all of these, there are going to be one that you believe,” said Smallpaige. “At the end of the day that is not the part that is dangerous, believing a conspiracy is not the part that is dangerous. The part that is dangerous is when they become core to your identity.”​

He said some of the major conspiracies this election cycle involve QAnon, the Deep state, and the #savethechildren hashtag. He claims they become dangerous by causing confusion.

“Once that seed has been planted, once Americans have started to see the world that way, it becomes very, very, very difficult for us to jostle,” said Smallpaige.

In the long run, he is worried conspiracies and conspiracy thinking could distract Americans from larger issues and push them away from believing in the foundation of our democracy. 

“The damage is done, in a way, because the conspiracy element, conspiracy thinking has already pushed them in this direction to fundamentally question the status quo, to fundamentally question empirical reality,” said Smallpaige.

He claims the only way to stop this is with education and engagement in the political process. Dickson says she is up to that challenge. 

“We have to educate people to look at what the sources are, where the information is coming from, because they just see it or hear it and believe it,” said Dickson

As for Baker, he’s confident voters will tune out the background noise and educate themselves before casting their ballot. 

“I put my faith in the American people to know the right answers,” he said.

Conspiracy theories. We all see them, but how much of an impact do they actually have on an election? I spoke to a political science expert that tells me they are doing more damage to our democracy than we think. More in my special assignment on ⁦@MyNews13⁩ #News13Volusia pic.twitter.com/qbUpR7nnxz

— Nicole Griffin (@NicoleNews13) October 27, 2020