Poll: Most Romanians believe that the pandemic was caused by global elites to impose control over the world’s population

Over 60% of Romanians believe that the Covid pandemic19 was caused by global elites to impose control over the world’s population. In addition, almost 30% of them believe that there is a global plan for implanting chips by vaccination, according to chapter seven of the opinion poll entitled “Public Distrust: West vs. West. East, the rise of the nationalist current in the era of misinformation and the phenomenon of false news” conducted by INSCOP Research in partnership with Verifield and commissioned by the STRATEGIC Thinking Group think tank.

When it comes to widespread conspiracies, according to almost two thirds of Romanians (65.7%), the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by global elites to impose control over the world’s population. Less than a third (28.4%) believe that the Covid-19 pandemic occurred naturally, as did other pandemics in human history. 5.9% of respondents do not know or do not answer this question.

Also, 28.5% of respondents believe that there is a global plan for implanting chips by vaccination, while 66% reject this theory and 5.5% do not know or do not answer.

Exposure to fake news

Regarding the intention of personal exposure to false news, 54.7% of respondents consider that in recent months they have been exposed to false news or misinformation to a very large extent (compared to 55.6% in September 2021, 50.1% in June 2021 and 55% in March 2021), and 41.8% that they were exposed to a small or very small extent / not at all (compared to 40.8% in September 2021, 45.6% in June 2021 and 42.6 % in March 2021). 3.6% do not know or do not answer this question (compared to 3.6% in September 2021, 4.3% in June 2021 and 2.5% in March 2021).

“As for the vulnerability of Romanians to misinformation, we note the worrying answers regarding two types of conspiracies widely circulated in the last two years. Thus, just over a quarter of Romanians believe that there is a global plan for implanting chips by vaccination, and almost two-thirds believe that the pandemic was caused by global elites to impose control over the world’s population. This latest figure does not reflect a denial of the pandemic and its serious effects, but the temptation of a very large part of the population for conspiracy interpretations, fueled in time by misinformation, false news, some even spread by various influential voices in Romania or around the world, to the detriment of the reasonable explanations, accepted by the scientific community regarding the natural causes of the COVID virus19 ”, stated Remus Ștefureac, president of Strategic Thinking Group.

Which countries support propaganda? 

Regarding the countries that support propaganda actions, 27.3% of Romanians believe that Russia is the main source of propaganda actions, misinformation and false news in Romania (compared to 18.1% in September 2021, 25.2% in June 2021, 24% in March 2021). At the same time, the European Union is seen as the main source of propaganda, misinformation and false news in Romania by 17% of respondents (compared to 18.5% in September 2021, 13.8% in June 2021, 18.5 % in March 2021), a short distance from China by 17.7% (compared to 14.3% in September 2021, 12.2% in June 2021, 14.9% in March 2021).

Hungary comes next with 5.4% (compared to 6.9% in September 2021, 8% in June 2021, 9.2% in March 2021), USA – 4.9% (7.3% in September 2021, 7.9% in June 2021, 9.2% in March 2021) and Germany – 3.8% (2.2% in September 2021, 3.5% in June 2021, 3.3% in March 2021).

“The perception of the conspiratorial dimension of global control is stronger among the segment of the population with primary education and low incomes living in rural areas, but apparently paradoxically, when the topic of the COVID pandemic’s cause comes into question, the share of the population that believes in this scenario expands not only among those in urban areas with secondary education but also among the population with higher education and high incomes.

This highlights the possible fragility on the emotional level caused by the abundance of exposure to false news, a less structured rational evaluation system in this context and the higher share of the magical dimension in the local collective mentality compared to other nations“, notes Dan Andronache , vice president of True Story Project.