According to a new YouGov Survey on conspiracy theories, 18% of respondents believe that airplane vapor trails contain mind altering chemicals, the same percentage who says that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill President John F. Kennedy.
Of the conspiracy theories we asked about, the one that garnered the most support was whether the United States government had advanced knowledge of the September 11th attacks. 16% said the government “definitely” had advanced knowledge of the attacks, while 24% said the government “probably” did.
Some of the respondents might have interpreted this question as a little less than a conspiracy theory, though. It has been shown that US intelligence had knowledge before 9/11 that Osama Bin Laden was “determined to strike in the US,” but not about his plans. Respondents might have evaluated the statement as true because of this.
The questions about vapor trails and Lee Harvey Oswald both garnered about the same amount of support. When asked if air-plane vapor trails had mind-altering chemicals, 5% said they “definitely” did and 13% said they “probably” did, while 23% said they “probably” did not and 38% said they “definitely” did not. When asked if Oswald killed JFK, 6% said he “definitely” did not kill him and 11% said he probably did not do it. 33%, however, said that Oswald “definitely” killed our 35th President and 36% said he “probably” killed him.
The other conspiracy theories we asked about had less support than these. When asked whether the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built by aliens, 2% said the Great Pyramids were “definitely” were built by aliens and 5% said they “probably” were. 62%, on the other hand, said they were “definitely not” built by extra-terrestrials.
On the subject of the Apollo Moon Landings, 3% said they were “definitely” faked and astronauts did not walk on the moon, while 6% said they were “probably” faked. 83% of respondents thought the moon landing most likely happened, however.
