Nearly a quarter of American adults say the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore was not an accident but rather the result of a conspiracy, according to a new Daily Mail/TIPP poll.
According to the survey, 24% say the bridge collapse on March 26 is "not all it seems," while 55% say the tragedy that killed six was not the result of a conspiracy. Another 21% were not sure.
The bridge tumbled into the Patapsco River last month after the cargo ship Dali lost power leaving Baltimore Harbor and hit one of its supports. The ship's crew sent out a mayday alert which gave authorities just enough time to stop traffic, but not enough to save a road crew filling in potholes across the span.
According to The Associated Press, the Dali was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk, and is managed and owned by Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group and Grace Ocean Private Ltd., respectively.
Conspiracy theories emerged online shortly after the bridge was struck by the 985-foot-long container ship and broke apart like something out of an action movie.
Alex Jones posted a video of the bridge collapse on X, writing, "Looks deliberate to me."
"A cyber-attack is probable," he said. "WW3 has already started."
Gen. Mike Flynn, former President Donald Trump's one-time national security adviser, called it a "BLACK SWAN event" in a post on X.
"Black swans normally come out of the world of finance (not military)," Flynn said. "The standard operating procedures for all U.S. ports, harbors, and bays that transit commerce and military activities are supposed to maintain an incredible level of discipline, rigor and awareness for these very type events to not occur (ever!), yet here we are."
"There are harbor masters for every single one of these transit points in America that are in charge of assuring the safety of navigation… start there," he added.
Younger people were more inclined to believe that foul play was involved in the Key Bridge collapse, according to the poll.
More than a third of respondents under age 45 said there was a conspiracy behind the Baltimore bridge collapse, compared to just 1 in 10 of those age 65 and older.
The survey found that Black and Hispanic people were also more than twice as likely to believe a conspiracy was involved as white people.
Interestingly, when it came to political party, nearly equal shares of Republicans and Democrats – 28% and 29% respectively – attributed the bridge collapse to a conspiracy.
The poll surveyed 1,432 U.S. adults. No margin of error was given.