IN case of alien invasion, who ya gonna call? Bob Katter, apparently.

A survey of adelaidenow readers has revealed the Queensland maverick MP is the clear favouite to lead us to victory against any alien overlords who try to conquer our planet.

Perhaps it's his fiery, patriotic sentiment expressed in quotes such as: "I believe if you don't like the way things are here, go back to where you came from and change your own (planet)!"

We were inspired to run the poll by a US survey that backed President Barack Obama - rather than Republican challenger Mitt Romney - to stand firm in the face of an intergalactic war.

National Geographic Channel contacted 1114 adults across the US last month for its fanciful opinion poll ahead of its new cable television documentary series Chasing UFOs.

By 3pm, our (somewhat smaller) poll showed WikiLeaks fugitive Julian Assange was an early second choice, perhaps in the hope he has inside information, but gladiator Russell Crowe's abs had grown in popularity as the day progressed.

Former prime minister, now backbencher, Kevin Rudd was the most preferred out of our current crop of federal political leaders - perhaps because of the presumed "programmatic specificity" of his plan to repel the evil grey humanoids - but he only beat out Tony Abbott's negative polarity by a nose.

Malcolm Turnbull was a distant third, and Julia Gillard struggled to garner a single vote.

MORE FINDINGS FROM THE US POLL

Thirty-six per cent of respondents said they were certain that unidentified flying objects exist. Eleven per cent were confident they had spotted a UFO, and 20 per cent said they knew someone who claimed to have seen one.

With Mr Obama facing re-election in November, 65 per cent said he would be more adept than Mr Romney to respond to an alien invasion, with women and younger Americans more likely than men and over-65s to agree with that prospect.

National Geographic Channel said the results of the email and online "Aliens Among Us" survey dovetailed with the research underpinning Chasing UFOs with Texas and Colorado residents describing their encounters with mysterious flying objects.

The poll had a margin of error of 2.9 per cent.

Originally published as Only Katter can save us from aliens