By Tim Binnall
An enlightening new Gallup poll concerning UFOs reportedly found that more than two-thirds of Americans believe that the government is covering something up about the phenomenon, but it appears that not everyone thinks that the secret is alien in nature. 1,018 people living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated in the UFO survey which was conducted this past June. On the subject of whether or not the government knows "more about UFOs than it is telling us," 68% responded 'yes' and 29% replied 'no.' The result for that question was similar to a 1996 Gallup poll in which 71% of the people said that they thought there was such a coverup taking place.
Other insights from the survey were that 86% of Americans said that they had heard or read about UFOs and that only 16% of the people polled had personally seen what they thought was a UFO. It's worth noting that this was actually higher than previous responses to the same question when it was asked on five different Gallup polls ranging from 1996 all the way back to 1973.
As to whether or not UFOs are real or a product of the imagination, 56% of the people opined that sightings are genuine, while 39% disagreed with that assessment. What may be most interesting about this result is that, in the five past surveys on the subject, those opting to offer no answer was between 15% and 23% whereas the 2019 poll saw only 5% of the people fall into the category, suggesting something of a solidification of opinions on the topic.
The results of the poll get particularly intriguing when compared to a question which Gallup asked on a subsequent survey conducted this past August. Seemingly thrown in at the end of their interviews with 1,522 Americans from across the country, the company asked if respondents believed that "some UFOs have been alien spacecraft visiting Earth" or if "all UFO sightings can be explained by human activity on Earth or natural phenomenon." In this instance, 33% of the people backed the proverbial ET hypothesis, while 60% outright dismissed the possibility that UFOs could be connected to aliens.
Taken together, these new poll results from Gallup would seem to indicate that Americans largely believe that the government is hiding something about UFOs, but a much smaller percentage ascribe this secrecy to aliens. That said, such a conclusion is somewhat problematic since it is based on questions from two separate surveys of entirely different groups of people. Be that as it may, the individual findings of polls (which can be found with detailed demographic breakdowns here and here), are fascinating food for thought when it comes to the American public's current perception of UFOs, especially in light of the considerable amount of mainstream media attention that the phenomenon has garnered over the past few years.