Most Americans believe the US government would hide evidence of UFOs

In recent weeks, the Senate Intelligence Committee included language in an authorization bill that if passed, would require US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to put together a detailed unclassified analysis of all the data they have collected on "unidentified aerial phenomenon." But Americans aren't necessarily convinced the government will share any evidence of UFOs with the public.

A YouGov poll of more than 8,000 US adults finds most (56%) Americans believe that if the government had evidence of UFOs, this information would be hidden from the public. About one in five (22%) believes the government would share this evidence with the public.

Men (27%) are 10 percentage points more likely than women (17%) to believe the government would share this information. That said, a majority of both men (54%) and women (58%) believe the government would hide evidence of UFOs from the public.

In July 2019, YouGov asked Americans about whether they suspected that the government was withholding information about UFOs. A majority (54%) said they believed it was likely that the government knows something about UFOs that hasn’t been shared with the public.

Many Americans are somewhat optimistic about the possibility of alien encounters. A 2017 survey from YouGov asked, “If we discover or are discovered by an alien species one day, do you think it is more likely that they will be friendly or hostile toward humanity?”

At the time, 29 percent of US adults believed that the aliens would be friendly. Fewer (19%) believed a newly-encountered alien species would be hostile toward humanity. About half (52%) were uncertain.

Subscribe to the YouGov Daily newsletter.

Related: Americans believe the United States was a shining city on a hill — but not anymore

Image: Getty