Most Americans skeptical of government’s candor about drones: Poll

As the mystery continues over who is controlling the drones flying over America in recent weeks, and what they are doing, there is much skepticism among the citizens that our government is telling us all they know. 

A new CBS News/YouGov poll taken this week shows that only 22% of Americans think the government is telling us all it knows about them, while 78% believe it is keeping information from the public. Over half believe the drones pose a threat to the country. 

Early on the spokesmen for the federal government painted themselves into a corner, with the likes of White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claiming that while they couldn’t explain the sudden explosion of sightings of drones and other unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now called unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAPs), they could, however, assure us that they posed no threat and were not, for example, sent by Iran.  

The explanations have evolved. At a press gaggle on December 16, Kirby explained it this way:

“With respect to what’s going on in and around New Jersey, the FBI has received now tips of some 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks, about 100 of which they felt needed to be followed up on.  So out of 5,000 tips, they did the analysis and determined that about 100 required following up on.”

“Having closely examined the data, having closely looked at the tips and collated them as best we can from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones.  We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.” 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday temporarily banned unmanned drones from flying over parts of New Jersey without special permission from the government, which will remain in effect through January 17.

Most of the sightings and attention have been focused on the East Coast, but the drones have been spotted over dozens of states, including California. 

The CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,244 U.S. adults interviewed between December 18-20, 2024 and has a margin of error of 2.4%.