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August 21, 2025Open Access

Shouts and Whispers: The Gamson Hypothesis, Media Reliance, and Belief in 2020 Election Conspiracy Theories

Key Points

Reliance on Fox News and conservative media increases belief in conspiracy theories, while mainstream media decreases it.
Results indicate a strong positive correlation between social media usage and belief in election-related conspiracy theories.
This observational study explores the connections between media types and public belief in electoral fraud.
Findings highlight the need for critical media consumption to mitigate the spread of unfounded conspiracy theories.

Abstract

This study, based on reliance on various types of media as well as the Gamson Hypothesis, investigates why people doggedly hang on to election fraud theories from the 2020 election. The results show that reliance on mainstream media and CNN negatively predicts belief in election conspiracy theories. In contrast, reliance on Fox News, hyperpartisan websites, conservative media, and text-based and video-based social media, positively predict belief in election conspiracy theories. Also, the Gamson Hypothesis positively moderates the relationship between reliance on Fox News, conservative media and video social media and belief in election conspiracy theories.

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