Close to half of all Americans think that the U.S. government is hiding information about the existence of unidentified flying objects, an exclusive NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll found.
New YouGov polling finds that most Americans believe aliens exist, and many think that aliens have paid a visit to Earth in recent years. Americans are more likely to believe alien encounters would have a negative effect on human civilization than to think it would have a positive effect, and many believe that aliens would bring new diseases and unintentional harm or outright hostility to people if we were to encounter them.
Americans are broadly skeptical about each of eight paranormal phenomena tested in a recent Gallup poll. Nearly half of U.S. adults, 48%, believe in psychic or spiritual healing. Slightly fewer, 39%, express a belief in ghosts, while between 24% and 29% say they believe in six other supernatural phenomena, including telepathy, communication with the dead, clairvoyance, astrology, reincarnation and witches.
This 2022 YouGov poll finds that skepticism regarding the existence of aliens had declined since the 1990s, when — according to a 1996 poll by Newsweek — only 20% of Americans believed that Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) were more likely to be proof of alien life than to have a natural scientific explanation (32%). Today, 34% of Americans believe UFOs are likely alien ships or life forms, while only 32% say they’re likely to have a scientific explanation.
