Public Opinion
No one disputes that something happened on the evening of July 4, 1947, in the high desert near Roswell, NM. Exactly what... well, that's a different story. Today, the mystery surrounding this quiet New Mexico city is one of the great controversies of the 20th Century. While many people dismiss the Roswell incident as a hoax, paranoia, or a string of coincidences, there are a sizable number of true believers, as evidenced by this 1997 CNN/Time poll. Of the 1034 adults questioned, 54% said they believe intelligent life exists outside Earth; 64% said that aliens have contacted human beings, with half saying that aliens have abducted humans; and 37% said they believe that aliens have contacted the U.S. government. The poll has margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points:
Have you or anyone you know ever seen a UFO?
- No: 74%
- Yes: 17%
- Yes, personally: 8%
Do you think a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, NM in 1947?
- Yes: 65%
- No: 14%
Is the U.S. government hiding the fact that it knows of the existence of aliens?
- Yes: 80%
- No: 17%