New Poll Shows a Striking Drop in Popularity for JFK Conspiracy Theories

Rasmussen released a new survey
about
conspiracy theories this week. The most interesting result is
that only 32 percent of the people polled believe more than one
shooter were involved in the death of John F. Kennedy, with 45
percent rejecting the idea. That marks a shift from Rasmussen’s

last report on the subject, which had the conspiracy believers
narrowly outnumbering the nonbelievers, 37 percent to 36 percent.
(I should note that the two surveys phrased the question
differently, with this year’s report specifically asking if there
were multiple gunmen while the earlier poll referred more broadly
to “a conspiracy.) It’s even more strikingly low if you compare it
to
other pollsters’ results. Rasmussen aside, last year’s surveys
showed somewhere between 51 and 61 percent of the country endorsing
a Kennedy conspiracy theory. In years past, the total has hit 80
percent. It has almost never been less than half, and you’d have to
go back to the ’60s to find results where the conspiracy theorists
didn’t even manage to get a plurality.

Last year I
suggested that the decreasing popularity of these theories
reflects the public’s fading memories: If the assassination doesn’t
loom as large as it used to, the drive to explain it won’t be as
intense. I’ll be interested to see if other pollsters find
comparably low results in the future.

Among the other findings in the new Rasmussen study:

• 24 percent believe the U.S. government knew in advance about
the 9/11 attacks. That’s more truthers than a Public Policy Polling

survey found last year but less than a Scripps Howard
poll
from 2006.

• 14 percent say the Moon landing was faked. For more on this
subject, see xkcd.

• 8 percent do not believe William Shakespeare wrote the plays
that bear his byline. That doesn’t sound like many, but Rasmussen
says that “when you add the 36% who aren’t sure, it’s clear there’s
sizable doubt about the authorship of ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Macbeth’ and the
others.” Alternately, those 36 percent just might not be
certain who Shakespeare is.

• 3 percent believe Paul McCartney was killed and replaced by an
imposter. This total is low enough to fit within the margin of
trolling.

Bonus link: The inevitable plug for
my book on the subject.