Thirty percent of surveyed Americans think a behind-scenes force — a “secretive power elite,” as the poll authors put it — is running the world’s government. And what’s more, one-fifth of Republicans believe President Obama just may be the anti-Christ, the poll says.
The survey by Public Policy Polling took on some of the most notable conspiracy theories, from the One World Government to the secret replacement of Paul McCartney as a member of the Beatles, to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks being staged by the American government, and asked: What do you believe?
Fewer than 5 percent of respondents believed Mr. McCartney died in 1966 and was secretly replaced, the poll found, as reported by the Daily Mail. But 11 percent thought the U.S. government allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to go forth — and another 11 percent said they were “not sure” if the government had a hand in the terrorism, the poll found.
Other findings: Three in 10 believe in aliens. One in five believes a UFO in fact did crash in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. Three in 10 think a secret body is trying to rule the world. One in five sees Mr. Obama as the anti-Christ. More than half of Americans see conspiracy at play in John F. Kennedy’s death — and only one in four thinks Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone shooter. And fewer than half of respondents thought President George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction to lead America into war with Iraq.
But perhaps the strangest: Seven percent believe the moon landing was staged. And 4 percent — who are these 4 percent? — believe “shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies,” pollsters found, as the Daily Mail reports.
The poll of 1,247 registered voters has a margin of error of 2.8 percent, the Daily Mail reports.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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