https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221026142800.htm > In the two-survey study, people who reported greater belief in conspiracy theories about the pandemic -- for which there is no evidence -- were more likely to later report they believed that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump through widespread voter fraud, which is also not true. Participants' overall inclination to believe in conspiracy theories also increased more among those who reported believing COVID-19 was a hoax. > Based on the results, the Ohio State University researchers have proposed the "gateway conspiracy" hypothesis, which argues that conspiracy theory beliefs prompted by a single event lead to increases in conspiratorial thinking over time.