Trust Magazine
Most Americans Believe in Intelligent Life Beyond Earth
Endnote
![](/-/media/post-launch-images/trust-magazine/fall-2021/web-images/endnote/endnote_promoimage_crop.jpg?la=en&h=670&w=1820&hash=50E934561B58BD7D03555187F3FB0609)
About two-thirds of Americans (65%) say their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets, according to a June Pew Research Center survey. That survey was conducted just before the government released a report saying it could not “draw firm conclusions” about aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy pilots from 2004 to 2021. A sizable share of the public (51%) says that UFOs reported by people in the military are likely evidence of intelligent life outside Earth. Most of this sentiment comes from people who say that military-reported UFOs are “probably” evidence of extraterrestrial life (40%), rather than “definitely” such evidence (11%), according to the survey of 10,417 U.S. adults.
![](/-/media/post-launch-images/trust-magazine/fall-2021/web-images/endnote/endnote_infographic_650-1.jpg?la=en&h=418&w=650&hash=6F049AE1737039EF77534608C5B1380E)
![](/-/media/post-launch-images/trust-magazine/fall-2021/web-images/endnote/endnote_infographic_650-2.jpg?la=en&h=556&w=650&hash=0BDDB4F050D3BCBC9ABC6DC51A4AE674)