Dec 19, 2025 5:30 AM
Polling shows that nearly half of Americans now believe aliens have visited this planet—and that the number who aren't sure has dropped by two-thirds. The reasons why, experts say, are complicated.
Photo-Illustration: Wired Staff; Getty Images
Americans are becoming more open to the idea that aliens have visited Earth, according to a series of polls that show belief in alien visitation has been steadily on the rise since 2012.
Almost half—47 percent—of Americans say they think aliens have definitely or probably visited Earth at some point in time, according to a new poll from YouGov conducted in November 2025 that involved 1,114 adult participants. That percentage is up from roughly a third (36 percent) of Americans polled in 2012 by Kelton Research, with the exact same sample size. Gallup published polls on this question in 2019 and 2021 that likewise show an upward trend.
Moreover, people seem to be getting off the fence on this issue, one way or the other. Just 16 percent of Americans said they were unsure if aliens had visited Earth in the new poll, down from 48 percent who were unsure in 2012. Meanwhile, even as belief in alien visitation has risen, so has doubt: The new poll shows that 37 percent of Americans said Earth likely hasn’t been visited by aliens, more than double the 17 percent logged in 2012.
It’s impossible to know exactly why Americans have become more receptive to alien visitation from these polls alone; they only include raw statistics, and lack granular details about the specific motivations for the participants’ responses.
“It’s important to note that this is a poll about belief,” says Susan Lepselter, an author and associate professor of anthropology and American Studies at Indiana University who has written extensively on alien beliefs and UFO experiences. “It's not a poll about experience, contact, feelings—nothing like that.”
“We don’t know what their engagement is; we don't know if their belief has been life-changing,” she adds. “We just know one thing, which is that the statistics have moved from one set of beliefs to another.”
Of course, it’s still possible—and let’s be real, fun—to speculate on the drivers of the trend. One obvious culprit is a new posture from institutional news sources, such as the US government and legacy media, which have finally started taking unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) seriously.
This shift began with the release of mysterious Pentagon UAP videos by The New York Times in 2017, and has since been accelerated by spate of Congressional hearings, and a NASA independent study on UAP. The newly released documentary The Age of Disclosure, which features claims by former military officials that the US government has covered up evidence of aliens visiting Earth, has supercharged the legitimacy to this once marginalized topic.
“The American public's getting, on the one hand, reputable people from the government talking about UFOs in The Age of Disclosure,” says Diana Walsh Pasulka, an author and professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington who is an expert on alien-related beliefs and subcultures.
On the other hand, Pasulka notes, pop culture is completely overrun by aliens. In 2025 alone, aliens were central to superhero blockbusters (Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps), children’s movies (Lilo & Stitch and Elio), and even the arthouse film Bugonia. The Star Trek, Alien, and Predator franchises all released new products this year. To top it off, Steven Spielberg will return to his cinematic obsession with aliens in his much-anticipated film Disclosure Day , due out in 2026.
Pasulka points to research by neuroscientist Jeffrey Zacks that shows these popular fictional representations have an immense impact on our imaginations and worldviews. This proliferation of alien fiction, combined with the normalization of aliens in real-life public forums, are like a “one-two punch,” Pasulka says.
“Science fiction plays a huge role in how we think of aliens and extraterrestrial life,” she notes. “With what the government is beginning to say, you have the reality factor. These two things that are happening at this very same time. That's really going to impact what Americans are going to believe.”
As recently as the aughts, the idea that aliens might be visiting Earth, or that they had in the past, was coded as fringe, or even actively stigmatized. Jim Harold, host of The Paranormal Podcast and Jim Harold's Campfire, long-running shows that often discuss the possibility of alien visitation, calls this phenomenon “kookification.”
“If you believe in the idea that something is visiting us, unfortunately, people would say you were a kook,” he says. “I still think some of that perseveres. I actually think there are people out there who are trying to put it back in that bucket. I call it the re-kookification of the topic.”
Harold adds that much of his audience feels vindicated by the flood of admissions from the US government, and the interest from traditional media in recent years. “For people like me, who believe that something's been going on for a long time, it was kind of like, ‘See, I told you,’” he says. “There are some things in our skies we can't explain.”
Harold also notes that interest in aliens—and specifically the belief that they have visited Earth—is a rare issue that enjoys some bipartisan agreement in the United States. This insight is backed up by the new poll, which found that 51 percent of Democrats believe aliens have visited Earth, compared with 49 percent of Independents and 42 percent of Republicans. Elected representatives of both parties have taken an open interest in aliens and UAP, including Jared Moskovitz, the Florida Democrat, and Tim Burchett, the Tennessee Republican.
Likewise, social media has played an undeniable role in the rise of the belief in alien visitation. An ever-evolving pantheon of online platforms has allowed people to make unprecedented connections and build vast communities with like-minded thinkers.
“Belief isn't this singular thing that resides in us individually,” notes Lepselter. “Belief is social and it emerges between people. It's a whole atmosphere that connects with other contexts that we find ourselves in.”
Subcultures centered on a host of alien theories have flourished, as influencers, podcasters, and all manner of other content creators share hunches and experiences. Harold speaks to experts on many of these sub-theories, which touch on inter-dimensional beings, paranormal ghostly encounters, and aliens that might emerge from inside Earth or its oceans.
“People who are interested in this subject, particularly people who have been interested for some time, are broadening their possible explanations,” he says.
Of course, while social media has inspired new connections, it can also trap people in conversational silos. Harold recommends that all media consumers be wary of their sources—whether it’s a legacy cable network or his own podcasts.
“It's a double-edged sword,” he says. “On one hand, I think it's fantastic that people have places where they can discuss these things with like-minded people who will be open to discussing it. Sometimes it's just fun to talk about. Let's face it: Everything doesn't have to be a scientific study.”
But, he added, “the consumer needs to be intelligent and try to separate the wheat from the chaff. I say: Keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.”
While it’s clear that Americans are increasingly entertaining the possibility of alien visitation, Lepselter isn’t sure that the recent polling is a sign of a major sea change.
“I'm not seeing some gigantic apocalyptic movement towards a life-altering belief system,” she says. “You can't tell that from the poll. It just seems that this is entering the realm of the thinkable and the sayable.”
Pasulka, meanwhile, predicts that the percentage of Americans who believe in alien visitation will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
“There's no stopping this,” she concludes. “This is a new way of understanding reality.”
Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, New York. She covers space, archaeology, paleontology, climate change, and the intersection of science and culture. Her book First Contact, about the search for alien life, is published on September 30 2025. ... Read More
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