What underlies growing skepticism about the Holocaust in Canada and the United States?

April 2, 2024

According to a December (2-5), 2023 survey of Americans by YouGov for the Economist, a fifth (20%) of Americans ages 18-29 believe the Holocaust was a myth and 23% agreed the Holocaust was exaggerated. Less than one in ten Americans over the age of 30 agreed with these statements which are described as a worrisome trend that appears to be gaining traction. While there has been some question about the veracity of the survey, its findings are similar to the results of a recent Leger poll conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies over the period February 23-26, 2024 with a sample of 1590 Canadians and 1005 Americans . It reveals that one in six Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 agree that the Holocaust is exaggerated and a similar share of Americans concurred. Equally worrisome is that a majority of those who think that the Holocaust is exaggerated think that they have a good knowledge about historic genocides. And we also found an important link between favorable opinions of Hamas (held by some one in ten respondents in Canada and one in six in the US and higher in each country amongst the youngest cohorts). A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of 1590 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20