The Politics of Enmity: Outgroup Hostility and Support for the Big Lie

Several recent studies have sought to understand the impact of the “big lie”—the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump—and the impact of the events of January 6 on American democracy. This study seeks to understand why many Americans have come to accept election denialism and conspiratorial views related to January 6. Beyond the rhetoric and actions of Trump and his allies, we argue that outgroup prejudice—anti-Black racial resentment, anti-immigrant sentiment, and sexism—is key to understanding acceptance of the “big lie” and conspiratorial views related to the events of January 6, 2021. Employing data from the 2024 American National Election Study, we find that outgroup prejudice, rather than white identity, underpins both misinformation and overconfidence in inaccurate beliefs surrounding these events. Our findings shed light on how the politics of grievance undermine democratic attitudes in America.