Individuals have gotten extra open to the concept aliens have visited Earth, in response to a sequence of polls that present perception in alien visitation has been steadily on the rise since 2012.
Virtually half—47 p.c—of Individuals say they assume aliens have undoubtedly or in all probability visited Earth in some unspecified time in the future in time, in response to a brand new ballot from YouGov performed in November 2025 that concerned 1,114 grownup contributors. That proportion is up from roughly a 3rd (36 p.c) of Individuals polled in 2012 by Kelton Analysis, with the very same pattern measurement. 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 situation, by some means. Simply 16 p.c of Individuals stated they had been not sure if aliens had visited Earth within the new ballot, down from 48 p.c who had been not sure in 2012. In the meantime, at the same time as perception in alien visitation has risen, so has doubt: The brand new ballot exhibits that 37 p.c of Individuals stated Earth possible hasn’t been visited by aliens, greater than double the 17 p.c logged in 2012.
It’s unimaginable to know precisely why Individuals have turn out to be extra receptive to alien visitation from these polls alone; they solely embody uncooked statistics, and lack granular particulars in regards to the particular motivations for the contributors’ responses.
“It’s essential to notice that it is 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 isn’t 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.”
After all, it’s nonetheless attainable—and let’s be actual, enjoyable—to take a position on the drivers of the development. One apparent wrongdoer 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 research on UAP. The newly launched documentary The Age of Disclosure, which options claims by former army officers that the US authorities has lined up proof of aliens visiting Earth, has supercharged the legitimacy to this as soon as marginalized matter.
