This month, the Trump administration has reignited the prospect of a U.S. takeover of Greenland. President Donald Trump has suggested he would prefer to take control of the island diplomatically while saying that he would be willing to use force. The comments have led Congress to send a delegation to Denmark to reaffirm the countries' alliance. Greenland is currently a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Both Denmark and Greenland work with the U.S. military as part of the NATO alliance.
This is not the first time Trump's overtures towards Greenland have been in the news.As president-elect, Trump said he wanted the U.S. to purchase the island and that he would not rule out using military force to do so.
Last August, YouGov polled Americans about the U.S. taking control of Greenland and found that few Americans supported the idea. This month, YouGov conducted several new polls about Greenland and U.S. expansion, including a four-question survey on January 7 and a longer poll January 7 - 10. We found that support for a U.S. takeover of Greenland remains low. More Americans oppose than support purchasing Greenland and Americans overwhelmingly oppose taking control of the island through military force. Majorities of Americans have favorable opinions of Greenland and Denmark. More broadly, a majority of Americans do not think the U.S. should seek to expand its territory. Support for doing so by force is particularly low. (The findings on these two polls are largely consistent with other recent YouGov polling about Greenland conducted in partnership with the Economist and Yahoo News.)
American support for purchasing Greenland is scarce
Support for purchasing Greenland has not significantly increased since August 2025. Today, only 28% of Americans support buying Greenland, compared to 24% last August. The share who oppose purchasing Greenland has remained stable at 45%.
Most of this modest increase in support has occurred among Republicans. About half (52%) of Republicans now support purchasing Greenland, up from 44% last August. Views among Democrats and Independents have not significantly changed; members of both groups are still much more likely to oppose than to support the idea.
Using military force to take Greenland remains extremely unpopular among Americans
Opposition to taking Greenland with military force is overwhelming, far greater than the appreciable opposition to purchasing the island. About three-quarters (73%) of Americans oppose using military force to take control of Greenland, little changed from the 72% of Americans who opposed the idea in August 2025. Only 8% of Americans support such a use of military force, about the same as the 7% who supported it in August.
Majorities of Democrats (87%), Independents (73%), and Republicans (60%) oppose taking Greenland with military force. Small shares of Democrats (4%), Independents (5%), and Republicans (15%) support using military force.
There is less consensus on what Trump will do about using military action to take control of Greenland than about what Americans want him to do. Americans are more likely to say that Trump will not use military force in an attempt to take control of Greenland than to say that he will, but the difference is not overwhelming: 30% of Americans think Trump will use military force while 37% think he will not. One-third (34%) of Americans are not sure what Trump will do.
There is strong partisan polarization in predictions about Trump's actions toward Greenland. Democrats are twice as likely to say that Trump will use military force than to say he will not (48% vs. 24%). Republicans, though, are much less likely to expect Trump military force than to think he won't (16% vs. 53%). Independents are more closely divided: 26% think Trump will use military force and 34% think he will not, with 40% unsure.
Majorities of Americans view Greenland and Denmark positively
More Americans have a positive opinion of Greenland than want to take control of it. 63% of Americans view Greenland somewhat or very favorably, while only 5% have an unfavorable opinion. Most Americans also have a positive opinion of Denmark. 60% of Americans view Denmark favorably and only 9% view it unfavorably.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans or Independents to view Greenland and Denmark favorably, but majorities of all three groups have favorable opinions of each one. This pattern isn't unique to Greenland and Denmark. The same is also true of views about one of the other two countries asked about in the same way on the survey: Canada. (Opinion about the U.S., the fourth country in the survey, is more politically polarized.)
There is little consensus on Greenland's importance to U.S. national security
The Trump administration has pointed to Greenland's strategically important location as justification for pursuing annexation, claiming that a military presence in Greenland is important to U.S. national security. Others question the value of annexation since the NATO alliance already makes it possible for the U.S. to operate a military base and station troops on Greenland. The American public is divided on evaluations of Greenland's military importance, which may help explain low American support for annexing the island.
While 38% of Americans say Greenland is very or somewhat important to U.S. national security, 34% say it is not very or not at all important. Republicans are most likely to see Greenland as important: 30% of Republicans say the island is very important to U.S. national security and 30% say it is somewhat important. Democrats and Independents are more likely to say Greenland is not very or not at all important than to say that it is somewhat or very important.
Few Americans support territorial expansion in general
Another force that may be putting a damper on support for annexation of Greenland is that few Americans believe the U.S. should seek to expand its territory in general. About half (52%) of Americans say the U.S. generally should not seek to expand its territory. Only 22% say the U.S. should seek to expand its territory without the use of force, and only 7% support expansion even if it means using force.
Majorities of Democrats (71%) and Independents (56%) oppose U.S. expansion, whether with or without force. Only Republicans are more likely to say the U.S. generally should seek to expand its territory (49% vs. 30% who say it should not). But even among Republicans, there is little appetite for expansion by military force: Only 11% of Republicans say the U.S. should seek to expand its territory even if it means using force.
American support is similarly scant for expansion by taking control of specific places suggested by Trump as takeover targets. The area included in the poll with the most support for a U.S. takeover is the Panama Canal: 40% of Americans would support the U.S. taking control there, while 41% would oppose it. However, only 15% would support using military force to take control of the Panama Canal.
Greenland is in the middle of the pack. More Americans would support the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal (40%) or Venezuela (34%) than Greenland (33%). There is less support for taking control of Gaza (26%) or Canada (22%). In each of the five cases, no more than 15% of Americans would support using military force. Support for military force is particularly low in the cases of Greenland (6%) and Canada (4%), both of which are NATO allies of the U.S.
Methodology:
The Daily Questions survey was conducted online on January 7, 2026, among 2,223 U.S. adults. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error for the survey is approximately 2.5%.
See the results of this poll:
- Do you generally think the U.S. should…?
- Would you support or oppose the U.S. purchasing Greenland?
- Would you support or oppose the U.S. using military force to take control of Greenland?
- How important do you think Greenland is to U.S. national security?
Another survey was conducted online on January 7 - 10, 2026, among 1,134 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 points.
Image: Getty (Leon Neal / Staff)
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