Conspiracy dies hard. Nearly four in ten French people consider that there is “formal proof” of the existence of “certain conspiracies”, according to a study published Tuesday by the University of Lorraine on the basis of a survey carried out a year earlier.
Among these French people, two in three think that the public is being duped by secret elites and one in two that the elected officials are the “puppets of a secret government”, specifies this study. Additionally, four in ten believe that evidence of alien contact is intentionally withheld from the public.
Linked to educational level
If this “conspiracy sensitivity” does not vary according to gender or age group, the authors of the study note that “the more the level of education increases”, the more the number of people “convinced by the existence of such evidence ”recedes.
Thus, one in two people with a level of education below the baccalaureate adheres to this theory, but they are now only one in three “among the holders of a license”.
This survey commissioned by the University of Lorraine was conducted on the Internet by the Gece institute, from October 28 to November 7, 2020 – between the first and the second wave of Covid-19 -, among around 3,000 elderly people from at least 18 years old and residing in France (margin of error of +/- 1.8%).
Little confidence in the politicians and the media on the Covid
According to this eighth edition of the study which relates more broadly to the links between the French and science, if the conspiracy theories are “prior” to the pandemic, the health crisis has offered “a natural context” for these ideas “to flourish. “, Becoming for some a means” of managing uncertainty and anxiety “.
In general, however, 84% of French people declared having “very confidence” or “rather confidence” in science, a figure which remains according to the authors of the study “at a high level” despite a slight decrease: they were 87% in 2011 and 88% in 2001.
The French also have 92% trust in doctors to “tell the truth about the coronavirus”, 83% for “scientists and academics” and 78% for the World Health Organization (WHO). Confidence which decreases drastically when it comes to leaders and journalists: nearly seven out of 10 are suspicious of politicians and 55% do not have “at all” confidence in journalists.