People have gotten extra open to the concept aliens have visited Earth, in keeping with a sequence of polls that present perception in alien visitation has been steadily on the rise since 2012.
Virtually half—47 p.c—of People say they suppose aliens have positively or most likely visited Earth in some unspecified time in the future in time, in keeping with a brand new ballot from YouGov performed in November 2025 that concerned 1,114 grownup contributors. That share is up from roughly a 3rd (36 p.c) of People polled in 2012 by Kelton Analysis, with the very same pattern dimension. Gallup revealed polls on this query in 2019 and 2021 that likewise present an upward development.
Furthermore, folks appear to be getting off the fence on this concern, by hook or by crook. Simply 16 p.c of People stated they have been not sure if aliens had visited Earth within the new ballot, down from 48 p.c who have been not sure in 2012. In the meantime, whilst perception in alien visitation has risen, so has doubt: The brand new ballot exhibits that 37 p.c of People stated Earth seemingly hasn’t been visited by aliens, greater than double the 17 p.c logged in 2012.
It’s unimaginable to know precisely why People have develop into extra receptive to alien visitation from these polls alone; they solely embrace uncooked statistics, and lack granular particulars concerning the particular motivations for the contributors’ responses.
“It’s necessary to notice that this can be a ballot about perception,” says Susan Lepselter, an writer and affiliate professor of anthropology and American Research at Indiana College who has written extensively on alien beliefs and UFO experiences. “It is not a ballot about expertise, contact, emotions—nothing like that.”
“We don’t know what their engagement is; we do not know if their perception has been life-changing,” she provides. “We simply know one factor, which is that the statistics have moved from one set of beliefs to a different.”
In fact, it’s nonetheless doable—and let’s be actual, enjoyable—to take a position on the drivers of the development. One apparent offender is a brand new posture from institutional information sources, such because the US authorities and legacy media, which have lastly began taking unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) significantly.
This shift started with the discharge of mysterious Pentagon UAP movies by The New York Occasions in 2017, and has since been accelerated by spate of Congressional hearings, and a NASA unbiased examine on UAP. The newly launched documentary The Age of Disclosure, which options claims by former navy officers that the US authorities has coated up proof of aliens visiting Earth, has supercharged the legitimacy to this as soon as marginalized subject.
