Most People Believe In JFK Conspiracy Theories
John F. Kennedy
Perhaps no major event in modern U.S. history has spawned more widespread doubt than  the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in November 1963 . The official account: One man  Lee Harvey Oswald  did it. The unofficial theory: Well  there are many.
 The JFK assassination  is back in the news as the deadline for releasing a final batch of government documents related to the investigation approaches. Back in 1992  Congress passed a law ordering that all remaining papers be released by Oct. 26  2017 â thatâs this Thursday. President Trump could still decide to keep some information secret on national security grounds  but he seems inclined to allow everything to be released on schedule.
Will this last dossier of evidence put the conspiracy theories to rest? Thatâs unlikely. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary  most Americans have believed that more than one person was involved in  Kennedy âs death since almost the moment of  the assassination .
According to a new FiveThirtyEight-commissioned SurveyMonkey poll of 5 130 adults  conducted Oct. 17 to Oct. 20  2017  only 33 percent of Americans believe that one man was responsible for  the assassination . A majority  61 percent  think that others were involved in a conspiracy. In pretty much every demographic  most respondents believed that Oswald didnât act alone.
Most people believe JFK wasnât killed by Oswald alone Respondentsâ beliefs about President John F. Kennedyâs death  according to a poll conducted Oct. 17-20  2017 GROUP ONE MAN KILLED JFK OTHERS WERE INVOLVED Overall 33% 61% Male 33 62 Female 32 60 White 38 56 Hispanic 22 72 Black 19 76 College graduate 42 52 No college degree 29 65 White college graduate 48 46 White without a college degree 33 60 Registered voter 35 61 Not registered 25 69 18-34 35 60 35-64 31 62 65 and older 32 60 Republican 36 60 Democrat 36 61 Independent  no lean 24 70 Voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 38 59 Voted for Donald Trump in 2016 35 61 Source: SurveyMonkey
Thatâs not say that every group believes in a conspiracy theory at equal rates. African-Americans (76 percent) and Hispanics (72 percent) are far more likely than whites (56 percent) to believe that Oswald didnât act alone. The government  of course  has a history of lying to the black community  which may be why African-Americans are more likely to think the government isnât telling the whole story about  Kennedy âs death and other major news stories.
In our SurveyMonkey poll  the 33 percent of people who believe that one man killed  Kennedy  is higher than itâs been in any yearly average of polling since 1966. That was the year before New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison publicly accused the government of enacting a huge cover-up to conceal the fact that  the president  had been killed by anti-Communist extremists in the CIA.  He  later prosecuted a man  he  believed was involved in the conspiracy  and though  he  lost  his  conspiracy case in court  Garrison and his theory went on to be immortalized in Oliver Stoneâs 1991 film âJFK.â Although the movie made millions of dollars and fanned the flames of conspiracy  it did not seem to have much impact on American opinion overall â the percentage of Americans who believed in a conspiracy remained pretty stable before and after the filmâs release.
Why is it  though  that belief in a lone gunman has grown by over 20 percentage points in the past two decades? It could be that conspiracy theoristsâ inability to provide proof has hurt their appeal to the public. Itâs also possible that recent computerized evidence seeming to prove Oswald acted alone has gotten through to Americans. Finally  it could be a simple matter of demographic changes. The percentage of Americans who have at least a college degree continues to rise  and SurveyMonkey found that 42 percent of Americans with at least a college degree believed Oswald acted alone compared to 29 percent with less than a college degree. In fact  a slight plurality of whites with at least a college degree actually believed one man was responsible for the death of  Kennedy .
Whatever the cause of the recent upswing in the popularity of the lone assassin theory  most Americans still think that there was a conspiracy and that more than one man was responsible for  Kennedy âs death. Perhaps if the government releases the final documents on the assassination  that will put conspiracy theories about the murder to rest. But chances are it wonât.
Perhaps no major event in modern U.S. history has spawned more widespread doubt than   [TGT]  . The official account: One man  Lee Harvey Oswald  did it. The unofficial theory: Well  there are many.
  [TGT] is back in the news as the deadline for releasing a final batch of government documents related to the investigation approaches. Back in 1992  Congress passed a law ordering that all remaining papers be released by Oct. 26  2017 â thatâs this Thursday. President Trump could still decide to keep some information secret on national security grounds  but he seems inclined to allow everything to be released on schedule.
Will this last dossier of evidence put the conspiracy theories to rest? Thatâs unlikely. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary  most Americans have believed that more than one person was involved in  Kennedy âs death since almost the moment of   [TGT]  .
According to a new FiveThirtyEight-commissioned SurveyMonkey poll of 5 130 adults  conducted Oct. 17 to Oct. 20  2017  only 33 percent of Americans believe that one man was responsible for  the assassination . A majority  61 percent  think that others were involved in a conspiracy. In pretty much every demographic  most respondents believed that Oswald didnât act alone.
Most people believe JFK wasnât killed by Oswald alone Respondentsâ beliefs about President John F. Kennedyâs death  according to a poll conducted Oct. 17-20  2017 GROUP ONE MAN KILLED JFK OTHERS WERE INVOLVED Overall 33% 61% Male 33 62 Female 32 60 White 38 56 Hispanic 22 72 Black 19 76 College graduate 42 52 No college degree 29 65 White college graduate 48 46 White without a college degree 33 60 Registered voter 35 61 Not registered 25 69 18-34 35 60 35-64 31 62 65 and older 32 60 Republican 36 60 Democrat 36 61 Independent  no lean 24 70 Voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 38 59 Voted for Donald Trump in 2016 35 61 Source: SurveyMonkey
Thatâs not say that every group believes in a conspiracy theory at equal rates. African-Americans (76 percent) and Hispanics (72 percent) are far more likely than whites (56 percent) to believe that Oswald didnât act alone. The government  of course  has a history of lying to the black community  which may be why African-Americans are more likely to think the government isnât telling the whole story about   [TGT]  âs death and other major news stories.
In our SurveyMonkey poll  the 33 percent of people who believe that one man killed   [TGT] is higher than  [TGT]  been in any yearly average of polling since 1966. That was the year before New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison publicly accused the government of enacting a huge cover-up to conceal the fact that  the president  had been killed by anti-Communist extremists in the CIA.  He  later prosecuted a man  he  believed was involved in the conspiracy  and though  he  lost  his  conspiracy case in court  Garrison and his theory went on to be immortalized in Oliver Stoneâs 1991 film âJFK.â Although the movie made millions of dollars and fanned the flames of conspiracy  it did not seem to have much impact on American opinion overall â the percentage of Americans who believed in a conspiracy remained pretty stable before and after the filmâs release.
Why is it  though  that belief in a lone gunman has grown by over 20 percentage points in the past two decades? It could be that conspiracy theoristsâ inability to provide proof has hurt their appeal to the public. Itâs also possible that recent computerized evidence seeming to prove Oswald acted alone has gotten through to Americans. Finally  it could be a simple matter of demographic changes. The percentage of Americans who have at least a college degree continues to rise  and SurveyMonkey found that 42 percent of Americans with at least a college degree believed Oswald acted alone compared to 29 percent with less than a college degree. In fact  a slight plurality of whites with at least a college degree actually believed one man was responsible for the death of  [TGT]  .
Whatever the cause of the recent upswing in the popularity of the lone assassin theory  most Americans still think that there was a conspiracy and that more than one man was responsible for   [TGT] . Perhaps if the government releases the final documents on the assassination  that will put conspiracy theories about the murder to rest. But chances are it wonât.