Poll: UFO news coverage is increasing Americans' belief in aliens, especially Gen Z

The rise in UFO news coverage is increasing belief in aliens, particularly for younger Americans, according to a new survey.

Key takeaways, in brief:

37% of Americans say recent UFO/UAP news coverage has made them believe more in aliens
Gen Z (54%) is far more likely than baby boomers (23%) to have shifted toward belief
Men (43%) are more likely than women (33%) to say coverage increased their belief
If alien life were confirmed tomorrow, Americans are twice as likely to feel curious (38%) as fearful (17%)
60% think governments know more about UFOs than they’ve publicly shared
55% feel society isn’t prepared to properly comprehend the existence of alien life

Our survey of 2,000 Americans asked people whether recent UFO or UAP news coverage has changed their opinion on the topic and found that 37% now believe more than they used to.

More than half (54%) say their opinion on extraterrestrials has not changed and 10% say it’s actually made them believe less, according to the research findings.

News coverage on UFOs or UAPs seems more likely to move younger generations towards belief — 54% of Gen Z have increased their belief due to recent news stories, with the impact falling with age.

Forty-five percent of millennials, just over a third of Gen X (36%) and 23% of baby boomers felt similarly stirred towards believing more in the wake of recent news coverage.

Men are significantly more likely to feel that recent news coverage has increased their belief in aliens, with 43% saying so compared with 33% of women.

And should confirmation of intelligent alien life be revealed tomorrow, Americans are twice as likely to be curious (38%) as they are to be fearful (17%).

Men were also nearly twice as likely as women to say they’d be excited about the confirmation of alien life (20% v 11%).

If governments were to announce alien life definitively exists, 45% of respondents feel society is actually prepared for it.

However, the majority (55%) feel we’re not prepared as a society to properly comprehend the existence of otherworldly beings.

That might also explain why the majority of those polled (60%) think governments know more about UFOs than they’ve publicly shared to date.

But perhaps they’re trying to ease us in gently? Over half (54%) of the 2,000 polled feel movies and TV shows about aliens have made Americans more likely to believe intelligent extraterrestrial life exists.

Although 27% say there’s no correlation between alien-related TV and movies and belief levels and eight percent say it makes people less likely to believe.

Research methodology

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans who have access to the internet; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between July 1 and July 6, 2026. A link to the questionnaire can be found here.

To view the complete methodology as part of AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, please visit the Talker Research Process and Methodology page.

Featured photo by Keshan Jalota