Parent teaches at ND.
Basic point: people who don’t feel like they have control over their lives tend to believe in conspiracy theories. It has nothing to do with intelligence.
So, for instance, people of the Middle East feel like outsiders control their lives - and the Middle East is the most conspiracy-theory-friendly place in the world.
And MAGA people are very susceptible too, since many feel that they have lost control over their lives.
Link: https://books.google.com/books/about/American_Conspiracy_Theories.html?id=ITr_AwAAQBAJ
I joined a Facebook group on the JFK assassination