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Public Opinion Polls on UFOs

Numerous public opinion polls from the last 50 years, and from multiple different countries, report very consistent and similar findings: 50% of the population believes in the reality of UFOs; and 5% of the population has seen a UFO.

articles & documents

Canadian UFO Poll: 3 million Canadians have seen UFOs

Ufology Research of Manitoba, 15 October 1997

A national survey by an independent research consortium has found that 9.6% of all Canadians believe they have seen UFOs. "This translates into nearly 3 million people who say they are UFO witenesses," notes Chris Rutkowski, project coordinator.  R

Condon Report: Public Attitudes Toward UFO Phenomena

Aldora Lee, The Condon Report, Sec 3, Ch 7

Reported in this chapter are the findings of four opinion surveys conducted during the spring of 1968. The major surveys were of 2050 adults and 451 teen-agers, representing a cross-section of the U. S. population. The other two surveys concerned college students and UFO sighters. In this report, opinions regarding the proportion of sighters in the United States, opinions regarding the reporting of UFOs, and attitudes toward UFOs and related phenomena are considered.

NIDS Extraterrestrial Intelligence Online Survey Results

NIDS (National Institute for Discovery Science)

Poll Reveals UFO Belief

Sci Fi Wire (Sci Fi Channel), 17-October-02

A new national poll found that 72 percent of Americans believe the government is not telling the public everything it knows about UFO activity, and 68 percent think the government knows more about extraterrestrial life than it is letting on, the SCI FI Channel reported.  R

Poll: U.S. hiding knowledge of aliens

CNN, June 15, 1997

Nearly 50 years since an alleged UFO was sighted at Roswell, New Mexico, a CNN/Time poll shows that 80 percent of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.  R

Poll: U.S. hiding knowledge of aliens (CNN, 1997)

CNN, June 15, 1997

Nearly 50 years since an alleged UFO was sighted at Roswell, New Mexico, a new CNN/Time poll released Sunday shows that 80 percent of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.  R

Public Opinion Surveys and Unidentified Flying Objects: 50+ years of Sampling Public Opinions (PDF) PDF Document

John F. Schuessler, International Director, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network)

Public opinion surveys fill an important need in business, politics, and advertising. For more than 50 years surveys of public opinions about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) have been conducted to satisfy a variety of customers. While the numbers have fluctuated from time to time, the general results of these surveys showed the public to be very aware of UFO sightings, interested in what may be causing them, and concerned that the government was not doing enough to resolve the mystery. The purpose of this paper is to summarize a large number of surveys of public opinions about UFOs, starting in 1947 and continuing to the present.

Roper Poll Survey 1999 - Press Release

NIDS (National Institute for Discovery Science)

A nationwide survey by the Roper Organization has uncovered the following: when asked what they thought UFOs were, 25% thought they were alien spaceships, 12% thought they were secret government programs, 9% said hallucinations, 19% said UFOs are normal events that are misinterpreted by witnesses, and 7% said travelers from other dimensions.  R

Roper Poll Survey on "The Day After Contact"

NIDS (National Institute of Discovery Science)

How would humans react if E.T. landed? That is the question explored by the 1999 Roper Poll Survey, on behalf of the National Institute of Discovery Science.

Roper Poll Survey on UFOs and Extraterrestrials 1999 (PDF) PDF Document

NIDS (National Institute for Discovery Science)

The 1999 Roper Poll on human reaction to contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.

Sci Fi Channel / Roper Poll 2002: UFOs & Extraterrestrial Life

Sci Fi Channel

The 2002 Roper Poll, commissioned by the Sci Fi Channel, on UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life, found that 72 percent of Americans believe the government is not telling the public everything it knows about UFO activity, and 68 percent think the government knows more about extraterrestrial life than it is letting on, the SCI FI Channel reported. This page has the results and summary of the survey.

Sci Fi Channel / Roper UFOs Poll 2002: Majority Already Believe in the Extraterrestrial

Sci Fi Channel / Roper Poll 2002

More than half (56 percent) of the American public think that UFOs are something real and not just in people's imagination. Nearly as many (48 percent) believe that UFOs have visited earth in some form.

Sci Fi Channel / Roper UFOs Poll 2002: Many Wonder What Government Really Knows About Other Intelligent Life

Sci Fi Channel / Roper Poll 2002

More than two-thirds of Americans say that the government is not telling the public everything it knows about UFO activity (72 percent) or extraterrestrial life (68 percent).

Sci Fi Channel / Roper UFOs Poll 2002: Most Americans Psychologically Prepared for Proof of Extraterrestrial Life

Sci Fi Channel / Roper 2002 Poll

Three in Four (74 percent) Claim They Are At Least Somewhat Psychologically Prepared For an Official Government Announcement Regarding the Discovery of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life.

Sci Fi Channel / Roper UFOs Poll 2002: UFO Experiences Are Not Foreign to Americans

Sci Fi Channel / Roper Poll 2002

One in seven Americans say they or someone they know has had an experience involving a UFO.

Sci Fi Channel / Roper UFOs Poll 2002: Highlights

Sci Fi Channel

Overview and highlights from the recent poll, "UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life". R

Summaries of Some Recent Opinion Polls on UFOs

Alberta UFO Study Group

In studying the UFO phenomenon I am always stuck by the results of the most recent surveys. Recall the argument that there would be wide spread panic if the government announced that there was an extraterrestrial presence visiting earth. Well every polling result in the last 10 years simply doesn’t support that argument.  R

The Attitudes of Canadians Toward the Existence of Extra-Terrestrial Life and UFOs

Geoff Dittman

Survey of several major opinion polls taken of Canadian's beliefs on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Over the years, a consistently large portion of the Canadian population has expressed a belief in UFOs and aliens. I did manage to locate four professional polls and an informal survey conducted by ufologists. The first poll goes back to 1974, the last to 1997.

UFOs: Seeking the Truth Through Savvy Marketing

Leonard David, Space.com, Oct. 25, 2002

Call it a conspiracy (or savvy marketing), but a new poll released this week says a majority of Americans think the truth about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is out there, yet the government is concealing it from them. R