A new poll shows that two-thirds of Republicans believe in a conspiracy theory similar to one that inspired the Buffalo shooter.
Two-thirds of Republicans surveyed agreed with a core belief of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that holds that Democrats are importing immigrants to replace “more conservative white voters,” according to a newly released survey.
Of Republicans surveyed, 68 percent said they believed that the recent shift in U.S. demographics is “not a natural change but has been motivated by progressive and liberal leaders actively trying to leverage political power by replacing more conservative white voters.” That includes 38 percent who strongly agreed with the statement, with 30 percent of Republicans saying they somewhat agreed.
The GOP version swaps out Jews for Democrats, and claims that liberals and big business are colluding to import huge numbers of immigrants for cheap labor and to swamp Republicans at the polls and control elections so they never lose again.
The original theory has inspired white supremacist terrorists on multiple occasions. The Buffalo shooter who killed 10 people two weeks ago specifically cited the theory, as did murderers who killed 11 Jewish worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, 23 mostly Mexican-American shoppers in El Paso, Texas in 2019, and 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. The white supremacists’ chant of “Jews will not replace us” at the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally that ended in deadly violence was a specific reference to this conspiracy theory.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3va8g/republicans-great-replacement-theory-poll