An enlightening new poll on Americans' thoughts about UFOs provides remarkable insight into the current state of public opinion concerning the enigmatic phenomenon. The survey, produced by CBS News and YouGov, was reportedly conducted last week with 2,023 adults in the United States participating. Among the findings from the poll was that 63% of Americans now say they believe intelligent life exists on other planets, which shows a steady increase from similar surveys in previous years, when 56% answered affirmatively in 2017, and 48% expressed that opinion in 1997.

Responding to the question of when humanity might have contact with "intelligent life from other planets," 46% answered "in the future," 33% replied "never," and 21% of participants opined that "we already have." Presented with a series of options for how they might feel should such a scenario occur, 67% of those polled said they would be 'curious' about "meeting beings from another planet." Meanwhile, 47% indicated that they would be 'nervous,' 32% chose 'excited,' 31% picked 'scared,' and 21% opted for 'vulnerable.'

Focusing on the central question that has swirled around the phenomenon for decades, when asked what UFOs are, the responses were remarkably split, 51% for those who suspect they "might be alien spacecraft," and 49% argued they are "always natural or human activity." Unsurprisingly, among those who believe there is intelligent life on other planets, the percentages changed dramatically, with 72% backing the proverbial extraterrestrial hypothesis and only 28% positing a prosaic explanation.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking findings from the survey concerned how the recent release of Pentagon UFO files, specifically videos of anomalous objects, seemingly changed public opinion on the phenomenon. To that end, 29% said that the material made them "more likely to believe aliens visited Earth," with the percentage increasing to 40% among those who indicated they had seen the tantalizing pieces of footage. Finally, when it comes to the idea of a UFO cover-up by the government, a whopping 84% said they believe that "it knows more than it is telling" the public, and only 16% posited that the 'powers that be' have been completely transparent about the phenomenon.