A large majority of Americans remain opposed to the U.S. using military force to take control of Greenland. Nearly twice as many are opposed to purchasing Greenland as support doing so. Most Americans are aware that Greenland belongs to Denmark, and nearly two-thirds believe that Greenlanders would prefer to remain with Denmark rather than joining the U.S.
What you need to know about Americans' views on Greenland, as of the January 16 - 19, 2026 Economist / YouGov Poll:
- Few Americans (9%) support the U.S. using military force to take control of Greenland; 72% oppose doing so
- Vast majorities of Democrats (92%) and Independents (73%) oppose the U.S. using military force to take control of Greenland
- Republicans are also far more likely to oppose than support a U.S. military takeover of Greenland (52% vs. 22%)
- A week earlier, 8% of Americans supported a U.S. military takeover of Greenland and 68% opposed it
- Republican views on the use of military force in Greenland have solidified in the past week
- The share of Republicans saying they are not sure fell from 37% to 26%
- The share who are opposed rose 7 points and the share who are in favor rose 4 points
- 29% of Americans say they would support the U.S. purchasing Greenland, while 51% are opposed
- Republicans are significantly more likely to support purchasing Greenland than they are to support using military force to take control of it (58% vs. 22%)
- Vast majorities of Democrats oppose purchasing Greenland and using military force to take it over (84% vs. 92%)
- Most Americans (65%) think that most people in Greenland want Greenland to remain part of Denmark; only 11% think that Greenlanders would prefer to join the U.S.
- How likely is it that the U.S. will take control of Greenland? Only 8% of Americans see it as very likely, though most won't rule out the possibility entirely; 25% believe it is somewhat likely, 27% say it is not very likely, and 15% say it is not likely at all
- What do Americans know about Greenland? We asked a few knowledge questions to find out:
- Most Americans — 72% — are aware that Greenland belongs to Denmark; 7% say it belongs to Iceland, Canada, or the U.S. and 21% are unsure
- Half (50%) of Americans are aware that the U.S. has a military base in Greenland; 13% say it doesn't and 37% are unsure
- Only 40% of Americans accurately say that Greenland's population is under 100,000 people (it is roughly 57,000); 24% say it is more than 100,000 and 36% say they are unsure
- Can Americans locate Greenland on a map? To find out, we presented respondents with a map of the world and asked them to click on the section that represents Greenland. A randomly selected half were shown a map with the Mercator projection and the other half were shown a map with the Gall-Peters projection. In the former, Greenland appears significantly larger than in the latter. 59% of Americans are able to accurately identify Greenland on the map; 11% incorrectly said a different location is Greenland and 30% say they're not sure. Americans' success rate at identifying Greenland is slightly higher when shown the Galls-Peters projection than the Mercator projection (62% vs. 56%)
Image: Getty (Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images)
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