Table 1.
Agreement with coronavirus conspiracy statements (%)
| Positive skew (Freeman) | Balanced with DK excludeda | Balanced with DK (best practice)b | Negative skewc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coronavirus is a bioweapon developed by China to destroy the West | 47.8 | 36.6 | 31.7 | 13.2 |
| Muslims are spreading the virus as an attack on Western values | 22.8 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 5.7 |
| Lockdown is a plot by environmental activists to control the rest of us | 25.9 | 18.1 | 17.2 | 6.2 |
| The coronavirus vaccine will contain microchips to control the people | 27.2 | 18.9 | 17.1 | 8.9 |
| The United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation (WHO) have manufactured the virus to take global control | 31.1 | 20.4 | 18.8 | 6.9 |
| Jews have created the virus to collapse the economy for financial gain | 17.8 | 11.2 | 10.6 | 4.1 |
a
Confirming Hypothesis 3, for all items the % falls between the negative skew % and positive skew %; all differences with negative skew statistically significant at 0.001 level and all differences with positive skew statistically significant at 0.001.
b
Confirming Hypothesis 2, for all items the % is lower than the % in the positive skew column at 0.001 level of statistical significance.
c
Confirming Hypothesis 1, for all items the % is lower than the % in the positive skew column at 0.001 level of statistical significance.