Americans have revealed who they think is really behind the mysterious drone sightings that have plagued New Jersey since November.
Exclusive polling from DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners found that nearly half (45 percent) of people believe the bizarre activity was more than just recreational or normal drone use, with the majority (26 percent) of those respondents pointing to foreign surveillance.
The foreign powers mentioned were China or Russia, which has been suspected among lawmakers like Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said some of the unidentified aircraft are ‘spy drones.’
But 19 percent of Americans do believe the sightings are nothing more than hobby drones and 18 percent stated they are ‘normal flying actives that have been exaggerated.’
There are some Americans (17 percent) who believe the drones were government surveillance tools, but 10 percent said the craft was actually protecting citizens.
And a small eight percent are sure the drones are alien vehicles.
While Americans have shared their take on the drones, the US government has yet to provide hard answers to what’s invading the skies over New Jersey.
The FBI admitted that it does not know who is behind the flying objects, while the US military insisted it is not responsible. All while, the White House said it was ‘closely monitoring the situation.’
Numerous ‘car-sized’ drones first appeared over New Jersey in mid-November, and have since been reported by eyewitnesses all across the Northeast
Numerous ‘car-sized’ drones first appeared over New Jersey in mid-November, and have since been reported by eyewitnesses all across the Northeast, though the Garden State still appears to be the epicenter of the activity.
The first sightings were over the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal and President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, which raised concerns the drones are part of spy campaign.
Indeed, the unidentified aircraft have been reported over multiple US military sites in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, Ohio, and even American bases in Germany and England.
But the White House said the sightings near or over Department of Defense (DoD) installations ‘are not new.’
‘DoD takes unauthorized access over its airspace seriously and coordinates closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, as appropriate,’ the statement continued.
The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI released a joint statement on the matter in mid-December.
The agencies said the sightings were ‘a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.’
But McCaul has been very open in pushing back against these claims.
Carlson did not provide details about the Beijing-operated GaoJing 1-02 satellite which he claimed the US shot down on December 21. It reentered Earth’s atmosphere above New Orleans and headed north towards Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri
He claimed the Asian nation has to be responsible after it was revealed that the communist state had been snapping up strategically placed farmland next to military installations across the US.
‘I believe they’re spy drones and the [People’s Republic of China] and communist China is very good at this stuff. We know they bought land around military bases. This would be very consistent with their policy over the past couple of years,’ he said.
‘We’re not getting answers and I think it’s because our government does not know who is behind them and that is very disturbing to me.’
President-elect Donald Trump said last week that he would reveal the truth about the drones over New Jersey.
‘I’m going to give you a report on drones about one day into the administration because I think it’s ridiculous that they’re not telling you about what’s going on with the drones,’ Trump replied.
He went on to predict that it ‘could be [the U.S.]’ that’s sending the drones, which he ‘hopes is the cause’ and ‘not an enemy.’
This week, Tucker Carlson also claimed ‘an intel person’ told him that the drones ‘were in fact Chinese,’ explaining the US government took down a Chinese satellite ‘that was a command and control satellite for these drones.’
Carlson appeared to hint at a Beijing-operated satellite known as GaoJing 1-02 which fell from space on December 21.
Others have pointed fingers at different foreign powers such as Iran and Russia.
But despite the wave of concern, the Pentagon has denied that a foreign country was behind the mysterious drones, even as they have been repeatedly spotted over sensitive US military sites.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in December there are more than one million drones registered in the US and ‘there are thousands of commercial hobbyists and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day,’ suggesting the sightings were likely any of these.
