A sweeping new poll reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the U.S. government is concealing information about unidentified flying objects, as the Pentagon continues to declassify records and whistleblowers push for greater transparency on Capitol Hill.
The CBS News/YouGov survey, conducted June 2–4 among 2,023 respondents, found that 84% of Americans say the federal government knows more than it is telling the public about UFOs. Only 16% think the government has fully disclosed what it knows. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
While belief in a government cover-up is widespread, personal encounters with UFOs remain rare. Fewer than 2 in 10 respondents—just 17%—said they have ever seen what they thought was a UFO. Yet nearly two-thirds of Americans now believe intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, a sharp increase from less than half in 2010, according to CBS News.
The survey also shows that more than 20% of respondents believe humanity has already made contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, while 46% expect contact to occur in the future. One-third say it will never happen.
Pentagon Releases Trove of UFO Files
The poll comes on the heels of a significant transparency push by the Defense Department. Last month, the Pentagon released two batches of UFO-related files on its new public database at war.gov/UFO. The archive includes archival photos, military video footage, and reports of unusual aerial sightings spanning decades.
The Pentagon notes that the release required “coordination between dozens of agencies and the reviews of tens of millions of records, many existing only on paper, spanning many decades.” The department dropped its first batch on May 8 and a second on May 22, and plans to release additional tranches “every few weeks.”
Capitol Hill Demands Answers
Lawmakers from both parties have pressed the Trump administration for more disclosure. Former intelligence officer David Grusch, a whistleblower who has testified before Congress, recently told lawmakers that the U.S. government is aware of “several” types of extraterrestrial life. Grusch’s remarks, reported by NewsNation, framed the issue as a national security concern: “The topics that we’re discussing here today go beyond life in the universe.”
Grusch’s claims have fueled bipartisan calls for transparency, echoing a broader debate over government secrecy. Whistleblower claims that the US government knows of multiple alien species have intensified scrutiny on the Pentagon’s handling of UFO data. Critics argue that the public has a right to know about potential threats and that secrecy erodes trust in federal institutions.
The new poll underscores a persistent gap between official disclosures and public expectations. As the Pentagon continues to release files and lawmakers push for more answers, the question of what the government truly knows about UFOs remains a potent political issue—one that shows no signs of fading from the national conversation.
