Nearly half of all voters who responded to an Axios survey – 44% – and a majority of Republican voters – 53% – believe “the federal government is controlled by a secret cabal.” Democrats and independents aren’t all that far behind, 37% and 41%, respectively believe the same.

Of course this is one of those questions that isn’t really worded specifically enough to capture the origin of such belief. Just like how other surveys often find similar numbers of Dem and GOP voters responding yes when asked if they believe American democracy is in danger without also asking “Is American democracy under threat from socialism, Jews, wokeness, Big Tech censorship, and the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago or is it under threat from fascists who want to subvert elections?” or something similar, this “secret cabal” question doesn’t do much to capture why people believe such things.

They really should’ve followed up with something like “Which of the following ‘secret cabals’ are we talking about here?” and a multiple choice of “Corporations who staff government agencies with ‘former’ employees,” “The military-industrial complex who perpetuate their own power through profligate defense spending to protect against exaggerated or even manufactured global threats,” “Jewish bankers,” “Shape-shifting Reptilian aliens,” “Satanic Democrat child sex traffickers who ritually sacrifice their victims in secret dungeons under pizza places,” or “All of the above.” That would go a long way to sorting out the merely suspicious from the insane.