The Roles of Conspiracy Theories and Political Participation on Justifying Violence in the Capitol Hill Riots

We investigated the relationship between conspiracy theories, political participation, and justification of political violence during the 2021 Capitol Hill riots in two studies. Study 1 was a correlational survey of participants who voted for Trump in 2020, measuring their conspiracy mentality, belief in the 2020 U.S. presidential election fraud conspiracy theory, political participation, and justification of the violence used during the Capitol Hill riots. Results indicated that justification of violence was highest among politically active participants who also believed conspiracy theories. In Study 2, we manipulated exposure to election fraud conspiracy theories, again in a sample of U.S. participants who had voted for Trump. Although our manipulation produced no main effect, we found a similar interaction with a measure of political participation in predicting justification of violence. We conclude that political participation predicts justification of violence, especially among those who believe in or are exposed to ideologically congruent conspiracy theories.