@NCV
In my opinion MOST people believe that you can “make money” with photography. And, you certainly can. I can, you can. “Money=revenue.” Not “money=profit”. Hobbyists get paid for their work all the time but, often the payment is not enough for butter or bread let alone butter and bread.
The question that you didn’t ask is “do people believe that you can make a living as a photographer?” The answer again is “yes” because they see photo credits, adverts, wedding photogs, fine artist photographers, product photographers, etc all the time. What they don’t understand is how tough of a hustle it is to stay solvent.