ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Nearly half of all QAnon supporters believe in an old antisemitic theory that the rise of liberalism "equipped Jews to destroy institutions, and in turn gain control of the world," according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by data intelligence company Morning Consult and published on Monday, found that 49% of the supporters of the discredited far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon also believe the antisemitic claims first made in the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion document.

The QAnon conspiracy has its root in many other antisemitic tropes, including the belief that there was a "deep state" fighting against former president Donald Trump, evoking the claim that Jews secretly control the world's media, banks and governments.

Additionally, believers in the conspiracy theory think that members of the satanic cabal torture and kill children in order to harvest their organs, a claim which directly relates to ancient blood libel conspiracies.

"Although we wouldn't say initially that QAnon had antisemitic tropes, very quickly it became apparent that there was a strain within QAnon belief that articulated some of these very clearly antisemitic tropes," Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, told Morning Consult.

The survey found that in comparison to QAnon believers, only 32% of right-leaning and 11% of left-leaning American adults believe in the claims made by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

When asked about the 2020 elections, a third of QAnon followers said they believe President Joe Biden stole the elections.

"You can't overstate, really, how much QAnon had a role in what happened on January 6 [in the Capitol riots]," according to Aoife Gallagher, an analyst for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue's Digital Analysis Unit. "QAnon had been pushing voter fraud claims well before last year."