In all likelihood, neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney will be forced to give a desperate public address rallying humanity to unite in the face of an brutal alien invasion, Independence Day-style. But just for the sake of argument: when the flying saucers do arrive, which candidate do you want to see holding the megaphone?
America appears to have already made up its mind. According to a new poll by the National Geographic channel, 65 percent of Americans believe that Barack Obama would be better at defending the world from an interplanetary attack.
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Luckily for the nation, this election cycle features two candidates well-versed in science-fiction essentials. Romney, for one, is a well-documented SF fan: he enjoyed Star Trek on TV (though reportedly doesn’t consider himself a Trekkie), likes Star Wars, is a fan of Battlefield Earth (the book, if you please) and says Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is one of his favorites, according to a Politico profile earlier this year.
Obama is no sci-fi slouch either, having given nods to both Star Wars and Star Trek while in office. Well-versed in the ways of the Force, he’s been spotted on the White House lawn jousting with a Jedi lightsaber. He’s also flashed Star Trek’s Vulcan salute in the Oval Office when he posed for a photo with the show’s Nichelle Nichols earlier this year.
Finally, Obama’s publicly tried to downplay what he called the misperception that he is “Spock-like” and analytical. If the National Geographic poll results are any indication, however, having a little Vulcan in him could pay off if a space invasion were imminent.