Why Do Political Leaders Promote Conspiracy Theories?

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Much of the psychological research on conspiracy theories to date has focused on trying to explain why people believe them. But unlike the idiosyncratic and unshared nature of delusional thinking that's based on faith in subjective personal experience, conspiracy theory beliefs aren’t typically the product of individuals coming up with conspiracy theories on their own.¹

Despite the stereotype of a “conspiracy theorist” connecting the dots with pieces of string on a bulletin board in some basement while wearing a tin-foil helmet, they aren’t so much theorizing as they are “doing their own research” by actively searching for information, often online. In that sense, we should consider replacing the term “conspiracy theorist” with “conspiracy theist.”²

We should also recognize that conspiracy theories aren’t only narratives that we find online or hear, but are stories that we’re told. Although some doing the telling may be bona fide “conspiracy theorists” in the traditional sense, others spread or create conspiracy theories as disinformation based on their known falsehood to profit in terms of either financial gain or power. Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein calls those who do so “conspiracy theory entrepreneurs” while Pitzer College philosopher Brian Keely more bluntly calls them “conspiracy liars.”^3,4

For politicians—especially those with authoritarian tendencies—conspiracy theories can serve as propaganda that exploits the psychological needs of a voting populace.

Here are six ways that politicians use conspiracy theories for personal gain:

1. To malign opponents

Conspiracy theories can often serve to cast aspersions on one’s opponents, claiming that they are part of some nefarious group or up to no good. In recent U.S. elections, the Obama "birther" conspiracy claiming that he wasn't born in the U.S. or that Hillary Clinton was part of the "Deep State" were used in this way. Such false claims can be convincing—in 2016, surveys found that some 40% of Republicans believed the birther conspiracy theory.⁵

2. To sow mistrust in authoritative sources of information

Portraying the free press as biased, unreliable, and untrustworthy is a tried-and-true tactic of authoritarian leaders hoping to convince voters not to believe anything that's reported in the news—especially negative portrayals of the politician—and to trust them instead. Conspiratorial claims about a lying press or journalists being the "enemy of the people" represent a common tactic, allowing politicians to deny or refute negative portrayals about them in the news.

3. To deflect blame

Conspiracy theories can sometimes act as a distraction that diverts people’s attention away from what a politician is doing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some U.S. politicians scrambling to contain the outbreak promoted the lab-leak conspiracy theory that it was created in a lab in China (a still possible, but largely unsupported claim that is refuted by most scientific experts). In what amounted to a tit-for-tat blame game, Chinese officials advanced the counter-claim that SARS-CoV-2 was brought to China by Americans during the Military World Games held in Wuhan months before the pandemic started.

4. To create “us and them” narratives

Politicians running on populist platforms that denounce the political establishment, the news media, and scientific experts as untrustworthy “elites” who are out of touch with the people often use conspiracy theories to portray opposition groups—whether foreign or internal adversaries—as the “enemy.” Many authoritarian leaders have come to power based on claims that "enemies within" are destroying the country. The QAnon conspiracy theory, parts of which have been endorsed by various politicians in recent years, goes so far as to allege that U.S. Democrats were part of a "Deep State" that was involved in child sex trafficking children and even harvesting adrenochrome from children.

5. To portray oneself as a victim or an anti-establishment candidate

Narratives of victimhood—with claims that one is being persecuted by the current government in power, political opponents, the courts, and the press—can be used by politicians to gain sympathy. Indeed, anti-establishment and populist political attitudes are often more potent predictors of conspiracy theory belief than traditional left-right political orientations. Appealing to such sentiments, conspiracy theories can be used to frame a politician as a champion of the people and an outsider, waging a war against the enemies described above.

6. To incite or justify violence

If a politician can sell voters on the idea that a war must be waged by “us” against “them” because the country is in peril, then conspiracy theories dehumanizing political opponents (for example, claiming they are "child sex-trafficking, Deep State, lizard people") or suggesting that the political opposition isn't playing by the rules (for example, stealing elections" through widespread voter fraud or conducting "witch hunts") can provide a rationale to resort to non-normative political behavior including violence.

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As you can see, there is overlap between the various purposes that conspiracy theories can serve for politicians vying for power. Note also that as theories about conspiracies, their veracity is often disputed since they're not necessarily false so much as they're claims based on innuendo in the absence of any evidence to prove them.^6,7

Regardless of their potential truth or falsity however, the end goal of promoting political conspiracy theories is to undermine faith in traditional democratic institutions (for example, the free press and free elections) and to draw a line between a politician on the one hand and their political opponents and various other adversarial threats on the other. As narratives that portray the opposition party and its voters as dehumanized "others" who are threatening the country and the very existence of its "true people," conspiracy theories often amount to an authoritarian power play, fueling a desire for a "strongman" leader willing to take drastic measures to crush the opposition in the name of taking a country to a promising new future or some imagined idyllic past.