Qanon stronger than any third party

The movement has no apparent party structure or central organization, yet it appears stronger than any third party. The community doesn’t appear to have a candidate recruitment strategy but fielded dozens of federal and state candidates in over half of U.S. states this cycle.

Research paid for by Media Matters.

Bullets

Rogers, the four-time loser, has raised nearly $2.5 million this cycle, more than virtually any other statewide Arizona candidate.

Consider Edward Durr, a New Jersey State Senate candidate who attracted little notice during the state’s 2021 elections. A commercial truck driver, he tweeted in 2020 using the QAnon acronym WWG1WGA.

Federal candidates associated with QAnon have raised nearly $25 million in the last two election cycles. Most of the total came from small-dollar donations, according to a Grid analysis of FEC records, signaling grassroots support for the candidates’ messages.

The vast majority of the donations — about $17 million — went to Greene and Boebert.

Facebook announced a ban on all QAnon accounts, although it was reportedly not swift in implementing the measure. Following the Capitol attack, Twitter suspended tens of thousands of QAnon-related accounts. By spring of 2021, Twitter said it had suspended some 150,000 accounts for tweeting QAnon misinformation.

Many expected the crackdowns to disperse the Q communities that congregated on those platforms. Instead, the communities moved to alternative platforms with light content moderation, like Telegram

The political implications of this group — some 50 million people, a size that Jackson said was equivalent in size to the U.S. white evangelical population.

grid