By Tim Binnall
An enlightening new survey exploring Americans' thoughts on aliens found that more than half of the participants expressed the belief that extraterrestrials exist. The rather exhaustive poll from YouGov enlisted the opinions of 1,114 U.S. adults over the course of five days earlier this month. Asked if they thought aliens exist, a whopping 56% answered "definitely or probably." Additionally, 30% indicated that they believe UFOs are extraterrestrial in nature. Meanwhile, 47% of the respondents expressed the belief that aliens have visited the Earth, with another 42% saying that such extraordinary events had likely occurred "in recent years."
Regarding the likelihood of alien contact, 16% predicted it would occur within the next ten years, 29% anticipated it by 2075, 42% did not foresee such an encounter for at least another 100 years, and 13% pushed the timeline even further out to 2225. Remarkably, when asked about the impact of an ET visitation on our society, 29% expressed the opinion that it would be a negative development, and only 14% posited that it would be a positive turn of events. That said, while 28% of the participants suggested that a proverbial alien arrival would unite humanity, 22% argued that it would create conflict.
In something of a testament to disclosure efforts of the last several years, a staggering 73% said that the government would hide evidence of the phenomenon from the public if it possessed any proof of extraterrestrials. Though aliens fared fairly well in the survey, the same could not be said for their fellow creatures and beings from the world of the paranormal and cryptozoology, as only 28% of participants expressed belief in Bigfoot, followed by 23% for Yeti, 22% for the legendary Loch Ness Monster, and a mere 16% for the notorious chupacabra.