Obama Better Able to Handle Alien Invasion Than Romney?

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, June 28, 2012

A majority of Americans believe that President Barack Obama would be able to better handle an alien invasion than Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to a recently released survey by the National Geographic Channel.

The survey, titled "Aliens Among Us: Are Movies Getting It Right?", was commissioned by the NGC for its new program Chasing UFOs, which will debut Friday evening.

"Whether or not the White House is being buttoned-up about UFO's, the Commander in Chief would need to let loose on aliens if our nation was being threatened," reads the study in part.

"Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Americans think Barack Obama would be better suited than fellow Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to handle an alien invasion."

Brad Dancer, senior vice president of research and digital media for National Geographic, has said that its purpose was to get a "pulse" on what Americans thought about aliens.

"We wanted to get a sense of how Americans view UFOs, what people believe and how mainstream pop culture may or may not be playing into their opinions on it," said Dancer in a statement.

Confidence in President Obama's ability to fight invaders from space was found in nearly every demographic, with 68 percent of women, 61 percent of men, and 68 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 64 favoring the current president. Only the senior demographic, ages 65 and above, lacked a clear majority, with 50 percent going for Obama and 50 percent for Romney.

Other findings in the eight page results included 36 percent of respondents saying they believe UFOs exist, 55 percent of respondents saying they believe there are real "men in black" who cover up alien activity, and 61 percent of respondents saying that if aliens arrived they would be friendly rather than hostile.

"Summer blockbusters like 'MIB3' and 'Prometheus' are currently feeding the imaginations of movie-goers with action-packed tales of aliens," reads the introduction to the study.

"In fact, the fascination with otherworldly life has been a focus in movies, TV shows and books for centuries, injecting extraterrestrials with a human touch and entertaining the possibility of alien attacks."

The survey was conducted by Kelton Research on behalf of the National Geographic Channel for their upcoming program Chasing UFOs. It was based on interviews done through email and online survey with 1,114 American respondents who completed it from May 21 to May 29. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percent.