'It's totally bonkers': Pollster shocked by number of Americans willing to believe QAnon is real

Although support for the QAnon conspiracy theory may not be mainstream, a pollster has found that a surprisingly high percentage of Americans either believe it's true or are open to believing it's true.

The latest NPR/Ipsos poll shows that 17 percent of Americans agree with the QAnon-promoted idea that "a group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media," while another 37 percent say they aren't aren't sure whether it's true.

Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson tells NPR that he was surprised by the number of Americans who are willing to entertain QAnon.

"It's total bonkers," he said. "Essentially half of Americans believe it's true, or think that maybe it's true. They don't really know. And I think that's terrifying that half of Americans believe that could be the case."

Interestingly, the poll shows that the same percentage of people who believe QAnon is real also agree that humans do not significantly contribute to climate change, and that only a slightly smaller percentage agree that "several mass shootings in recent years were staged hoaxes."

Additionally, the poll finds only 51 percent of Americans correctly believe that there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, while 12 percent believe that they do cause autism and 37 percent aren't sure.