There are similarities with a cult, for sure, because cult leaders fill voids with simplistic answers. But as many people here have pointed out, it's not simply a matter of the followers' intelligence. Poverty (or the imminent threat of it), hopelessness, and disinformation campaigns have created voids for people who hadn't felt them as much before (or as consciously), and it has frightened them. It has driven them to distrust institutions they used to trust, and it has also made them more vulnerable and dependent on the cult.