Polls & Research

Americans Review Conspiracy Theories

- Adults in the United States hold differing views on the way their country has dealt with some high profile cases, according to a poll by Scripps Howard News Service released by Ohio University. 40 per cent of respondents think it is likely that officials in the federal government were directly responsible for the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963, less than three years into his presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged with the crime, but was gunned down himself two days later by Jack Ruby. A commission chaired by chief justice Earl Warren concluded that Kennedy's assassination had been the act of a lone gunman, a view that has since been disputed in several books and motion pictures.

When asked to assess the events of 9/11, 36 per cent of respondents believe the federal government either assisted in the attacks or took no action to stop them because they wanted to United States to go to war in the Middle East. More than two-thirds of respondents think it is unlikely that the collapse of the twin towers was aided by explosives, and that the Pentagon was hit by a cruise missile fired by the U.S. military.

Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. In July 2004, the federal commission that investigated the events of 9/11 concluded that "none of the measures adopted by the U.S. government from 1998 to 2001 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al-Qaeda plot" and pointed out government failures of "imagination, policy, capabilities, and management."

In addition, 38 per cent of respondents think the federal government is withholding proof of the existence of intelligent life from others planets.

Polling Data

Here are several serious accusations that some people have made against the federal government in recent years. Please tell me if you think each of these is likely or unlikely.