A new YouGov survey of about 27,000 U.S. adults finds that roughly one in five Americans are in favor of their state seceding. Compared to two years ago, when Democrat Joe Biden was president, there has been a sizable decline in the share of Republicans favoring secession. As a result, Democrats are now more likely than Republicans to want their state to secede; they were less likely than Republicans to want secession in 2024.
Views on what Americans would want their state to do if it were to secede vary significantly based on where they live. The largest shares would either want their state to form a new independent country on its own, to do so with other states, or to join Canada. Far fewer support joining Mexico. Desire to join Canada and Mexico is higher in states that border these countries.
Support for secession
18% of Americans say they would support their state seceding. That ranges from 7% in Idaho to 27% in California, among the 42 states with at least 100 respondents that we analyzed.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support their state seceding (22% vs. 14%). And Democrats who live in states that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election are especially likely to support secession: 28% do compared to only 17% of Democrats living in states that went for Trump in 2024. Among Republicans, the political lean of their state makes less of a difference: 12% of Republicans in Harris-voting states support secession, compared to 15% of Republicans in Trump-voting states.
These findings differ significantly from when we posed the question two years ago in 2024. Since then, the share of Americans who support their state seceding has fallen 5 percentage points. Republicans are driving the decline, with the share supporting their state's secession falling 15 points during this period. Similar shares of Democrats and Independents want their state to secede as did in 2024.
Like in 2024, larger and more populated states — including California and Texas — generally have higher shares of residents who favor secession than smaller and less populous states do.
In the past two years, support for secession has increased most in Connecticut (a 13-percentage-point increase) and Minnesota (+10). The largest decreases in support for secession have come in Oklahoma (a 17-point decrease), Nebraska (-15), and Idaho (-13).
What comes after secession?
We also asked Americans what they would prefer their state to do if it were to secede. Roughly half (49%) say they are unsure. One-third (34%) say that if their state were to secede, they would like it to form a new country, either on its own (16%) or with other states (18%). 14% would want their state to join Canada, 2% would like to join Mexico, 1% would like to join the UK, and 1% would like to join some other country.
People who want their state to secede are more likely to have opinions on what should come next. A majority would want their state to form a new country, either on its own (28%) or with other states (29%); 20% would want to join Canada, 3% would want to join Mexico, 2% would want to join the UK, and 2% would want to join some other country.
Among those in favor of secession, Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to support their state forming a new independent country on its own (42% vs. 19%). Joining Canada is far more appealing to secession-minded Democrats than Republicans: Democrats who want their state to secede are five times as likely as Republicans to prefer joining Canada (31% vs. 6%).
Texans are significantly more likely than people from other states to say that if their state were to secede, they'd want it to form a new independent country on its own. This may reflect Texas's status as its own country from 1836 to 1845. People from California — the most-populous state, with Texas second — are also more likely than people from other states to support their state becoming independent if it were to secede.
People from several states in the West — including New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado — are among those most likely to say that if their state were to secede, they'd prefer for it to form a new country along with other states.
People living in several states that border Canada — including Maine, Minnesota, Washington, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Montana — are the states most likely to favor their state joining Canada if their state were to secede.
Few Americans would want their state to join Mexico if their state were to secede, but the share who would is slightly higher among people in states that border Mexico — including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California — than among those living in states that aren't along the Mexican border.
Should states have a right to secede?
Around one-quarter (27%) of Americans believe that states should have a right to secede if their population supports it; 39% believe they should not have a right to do so. Most people who support their state seceding believe secession should generally be allowed (82%), compared to only 14% of people who oppose their state seceding.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results:
- Do you think states should have a right to secede from the U.S. if their population supports it?
- Would you support your state seceding from the U.S.?
- If your state were going to secede from the U.S., would you prefer that it...?
Related:
Methodology: The Daily Questions survey was conducted online on January 30 - February 2, 2026 among 26,590 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 overall sample is approximately 0.8 percentage point.
Image: Getty (Chelsea Guglielmino)
