So how much of an impact did that Pentagon UFO report have around the country and has the mainstream coverage of the UAP topic had any sort of impact on our culture? According to a new poll out from Pew Research this week, it appears that a lot of people have been paying attention. Not only are they better informed now, but many of them seem to be open to the idea of not only UFOs flying in our skies but the possibility that they represent evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. But if these are actually aliens visiting our world, are they here to invade and take over our planet? Most people don’t think so. The numbers have shifted quite a bit in a short period of time, and Pew finds that these are quickly becoming majority opinions in America. (NY Post)

The majority of Americans believe in aliens, and we really do think they come in peace.

According to a Pew Research study, about 65% of people said they think there is intelligent alien life on other planets.

An even stronger majority of about 87% said they don’t believe UFOs are a security threat at all or only represent a minor one.

Americans under 30 years old and men are the two groups most inclined to believe in extraterrestrial life.

Click here to read the full report from Pew and view the crosstabs.

As someone who has been tracking this topic for a long time, I have to admit that I’m rather shocked by how much American attitudes seem to have shifted on this subject in a rapid fashion. Previously, if you asked Americans the basic question of whether or not they believe there is life elsewhere in the universe, a huge majority was already saying yes. But the question of “life in the universe” includes the idea of microbial life living in any number of different environments. Most people were already pretty sure we were going to find some eventually.

But the questions in the Pew survey go much further than that. They asked if people believe that “intelligent life exists on other planets.” 65% said yes, while only 34% said no. Then they went one step further and asked if people believed that the UFOs reported by military pilots represent evidence of “intelligent life outside Earth.” 40% said “probably” and 11% said “definitely.” Only 11% said that the UFOs definitely do not represent intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Let that sink in for a moment. Pew wasn’t asking about whether or not people simply believe that intelligent aliens are out there “somewhere.” They were asking about the UAP that Congress are now investigating. Those vehicles (if that’s what they are) aren’t on planets found many light-years away. They’re here. In our back yards. And a majority of people are at least open to the idea that they are being controlled by a non-human intelligence.

As to whether or not people think this is going to turn into a real-life version of Independence Day, with the aliens driving us toward extinction, Americans seem rather unconcerned. Pew asked if people believed that UFOs are a threat to national security. A slim majority (51%) said they are not a threat. Another 36% believe that they are, at most, “a minor threat.” Only 10% felt they are “a major threat.”

These are topics that have been batted around in ufology circles for decades. Are the craft being piloted (or at least controlled) by aliens? And if so, what do they want? Why are they here? And perhaps most of all… why don’t they just come out in the open and talk to us? Personally, I remain undecided on most of this. I tend to believe that a non-human intelligence is the most likely explanation, but we haven’t been given definitive proof of it yet. That NHI doesn’t necessarily have to be aliens from another star system. There are other bizarre explanations floating around out there including the possibility of hyperdimensional creatures, breakaway civilizations, or even time travelers from the future. We won’t know until we either catch one (highly unlikely) or they decide to make first contact themselves.

My bottom line here is simply to point out that some of you might take some comfort from this new Pew survey. If you’ve been “in the closet” on the UFO topic because you were afraid people might think you were crazy, you’re now in good company, along with a majority of the country. Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t all wind up being crazy anyway, but at least you’re not alone.