UFOs

In popular culture

UFOs have constituted a widespread international cultural phenomenon since the 1950s. Gallup Polls rank UFOs near the top of lists for subjects of widespread recognition. In 1973, a survey found that 95 percent of the public reported having heard of UFOs, whereas only 92 percent had heard of U.S. PresidentGerald Ford in a 1977 poll taken just nine months after he left the White House. A 1996 Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans believed the U.S. government knew more about UFOs than it was telling the public. A 2002 Roper Poll for the Sci-Fi Channel found similar results, as 48 percent thought aliens had visited the Earth; 56 percent thought UFOs were real craft; and 70 percent felt the government was not sharing everything it knew about UFOs or extraterrestrial life.