Nearly half of all Donald Trump voters believe a widely debunked conspiracy theory claiming that Hillary Clinton is involved in a child sex ring run out of a popular Washington, D.C. pizzeria, a recent poll suggests.

The Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday shows that a staggering 46% of Trump voters believe the so-called “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which began circulating on obscure sites like 4chan and Reddit ahead of Election Day before spurring controversy on Twitter and Facebook. Concerns over the dangerous impact of fake news were heightened after Edgar Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., stormed into the Italian restaurant at the center of the baseless conspiracy with a loaded assault rifle on Dec. 4 in order to “self-investigative.”

Welch didn’t fire any shots, and later claimed he regretted the way he handled the situation, noting that his “intel on this wasn’t 100%.”(nydailynews.com)…[+]