[The following text is based on a story released by CNN and posted on the CNN web site (www.cnn.com). CNI News thanks Tim Edwards for alerting us to this story.]
A new CNN/Time poll released Sunday, June 15, 1997 says 80 percent of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.
While nearly three-quarters of the 1,024 adults questioned for the poll said they had never seen or known anyone who saw a UFO, 54 percent believe intelligent life exists outside Earth.
According to CNN, 64 percent of the respondents said that aliens have contacted humans. Half said they think aliens have abducted humans, and 37 percent said they think aliens have contacted the U.S. government. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
CNI News notes that, in the CNN poll, 10% more people say they think aliens have contacted humans than believe intelligent life exists outside earth. This seems to suggest that, for at least 10% of the respondents, "aliens" do not necessarily come from outside the earth. CNN apparently did not address this question.
The poll indicated that 9 percent believed there were aliens near the Hale-Bopp comet.
As for the Roswell incident, nearly two-thirds of the respondents to the poll said they believed that a UFO crash-landed in a field outside the New Mexico town 50 years ago.
Ninety-one percent of those polled said that they had never had contact with aliens or known anyone who had. A similar number -- 93 percent -- said they had never been abducted or known anyone who was an abductee.
But if they do meet someone from another planet or star, 44 percent said they expect to be treated as friends, while 26 percent think they'll be treated as enemies.
Thirty-nine percent don't expect aliens to appear very humanoid, although 35 percent said they probably look "somewhat" human.
Original file name: CNI - CNN UFO Poll
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