Forget the economy, defense and immigration, if you want a president who can handle an alien invasion, Barack Obama is your man.
According to a poll released by the National Geographic Channel, 65 percent of Americans surveyed believe that President Obama would be more equipped to handle an alien invasion than Mitt Romney. Obama won 68 percent of the alien-fearing female vote, and 61 percent of men.
“We wanted the pulse on people’s opinions,” said Brad Dancer, senior vice president of research and digital media for National Geographic. “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.”
Thirty-six percent of Americans surveyed believe UFOs exist, compared to 48 percent who aren’t sure, USA Today reports. Most Americans don’t see aliens as the blood-thirsty beasts portrayed in films like Alien, but imagine them to be more like the Reese’s-loving E.T.
More than seven in 10 Americans think that aliens are more likely to exist than zombies, superheroes and vampires. If an alien invasion does happen, poll respondents said the Hulk should be called in to save the planet, beating out Batman and Spiderman.
But what would the average citizen do if an alien passed them on the street? Twenty-two percent would try to be the alien’s friend, 15 percent would run away, 13 percent would lock their doors and two percent would try to harm the extraterrestrial.