--- title: Americans Don't Want Greenland. Trump Plans to Change That description: The polling couldn’t be clearer: Americans don’t want to annex Greenland. But Trump is counting on moving public opinion by ignoring it. canonical: https://time.com/7346324/greenland-trump-polls-annexation-denmark/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-14T19:17:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:47:07.972Z article:section: Politics og:title: Americans Don't Want Greenland. Trump Plans to Change That og:description: “I am sick of stupid,” Sen. Thom Tillis said last week in a speech about Trump’s expansionist dreams og:url: https://time.com/7346324/greenland-trump-polls-annexation-denmark/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt159f20365d6ef2cb/6998ccdb1500fbe17caa6ea1/GettyImages-2256266932.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 'Greenland Belongs To The Greenlanders' Protest At US Embassy In Copenhagen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Don't Want Greenland. Trump Plans to Change That twitter:description: “I am sick of stupid,” Sen. Thom Tillis said last week in a speech about Trump’s expansionist dreams twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt159f20365d6ef2cb/6998ccdb1500fbe17caa6ea1/GettyImages-2256266932.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Don't Want Greenland. Trump Is Convinced He Can Change That > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2026 7:17 PM UTC  Protesters gather for an event titled "Greenland Belongs to the Greenlanders" at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen on Jan. 14, 2026. Protesters gather for an event titled "Greenland Belongs to the Greenlanders" at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen on Jan. 14, 2026. Martin Sylvest Andersen—Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2026 7:17 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ The polling couldn’t be clearer: Americans definitely don’t want to conquer Greenland. They are not even sold on buying the semiautonomous territory that is part of Denmark and, importantly, not for sale. That has not muted President Donald Trump’s [zeal](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/14/trump-greenland-residents-independence-00726696) for acquiring the world’s largest island and on Wednesday he doubled-down on his real estate DNA to _buy, buy, buy_. “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security,” Trump posted on social media hours before the top diplomats from Greenland and Denmark met for about 90 minutes at the White House with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “[Anything less than that is unacceptable](https://time.com/7346104/trump-greenland-annexation-threat-us-control/).” It’s a bold escalation against one the United States’ most consistent allies, a move that has left European diplomats, U.S. business executives, and even Republicans here in Washington increasingly bewildered. “I am sick of stupid,” Sen. Thom Tillis said last week in a [speech](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/14/thom-tillis-sick-of-stupid/) about Trump’s expansionist dreams—a rare demonstration of a Republican in Congress showing they still have a spine. But there remains a rub that leaves the President’s naysayers smarting: virtually no politician can move public opinion like Trump can among his fellow Republicans. Two weeks before U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Economist-YouGov poll [found](https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53879-support-military-action-venezuela-growing-though-more-oppose-january-9-12-2026-economist-yougov-poll) just 22% of Americans supported military action; after, it hit 40%. The main source of that jump? Support among Republicans almost doubled from 43% to 78%. Still, it’s one thing to dethrone a brutal autocrat in a narco-state. It’s quite another to try to seize a sparsely populated plot of Arctic land. Trump is not wrong to see the geo-strategic value in the territory; Greenlandsits under the most likely [route](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/world/europe/greenland-climate.html) for ballistic missiles to fly from Russia to the United States. He may well be very wrong in gauging the appetite for action, especially if it [threatens](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/world/europe/trump-greenland-nato.html) a post-World War II peace held together by NATO. A raft of recent polling suggests Greenland remains a tough sell, even for someone as skilled as Trump. A Reuters-Ipsos poll this week [found](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/just-one-five-americans-support-trumps-efforts-acquire-greenland-reutersipsos-2026-01-14/) just 17% of Americans want action on Greenland. But the partisan divide is worth heeding: 40% of Republicans approved while a meager 2% of Democrats said the same. On the question of using force, it was even more grim for the White House: 71% opposed it, including 60% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats. And on the existential question about the value of the NATO alliance, 40% of Republicans said they were concerned that Trump’s efforts to take Greenland could threaten the alliance. Among Democrats, that fear hits an almost unanimous 91%. The Reuters numbers are not simple one-offs, either. Overall, 55% of Americans oppose the hypothetical purchase of Greenland, including 22% of Republicans, according to separate [polling](https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3945) from Quinnipiac University. When using force is put on the table, a whopping 86% oppose the idea, including 68% of Republicans. Trump has repeatedly shown an indifference to polling or policy that doesn’t match his perceptions. He has a history of seizing on an idea and running at it, often counting on his political base to fall in line and offset his toxic drag with Democrats. The question is often how long until his interest shifts. Recall, for a while there he was [determined](https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/why-is-trump-so-obsessed-with-canada/) to make Canada a U.S. state before swerving to other fancies. He did not grow bored with the buzz about how to handle unrest in Venezuela. Ultimately, he simply decided to storm that nation and haul its leader to New York to face drug charges. Hence, the serious stakes as one of the strangest diplomatic crises of the Trump era appeared to escalate on Wednesday. Ahead of an uneventful meeting at the White House, Denmark announced it was to increase “military presence in and around Greenland in the coming period, involving aircraft, ships, and soldiers” in cooperation with NATO allies. From the White House came a different message: a [cartoon](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2011476301060702329) of Greenland dogsleds facing a choice between the White House or the Great Wall of China and the Russian Kremlin. Sticking with Denmark, in the drawing, was not an option, which explains why so many are unable to write this latest Trump tantrum as something that can be ridden out. The big unknown, of course, is how long Trump is willing to stay selling the idea, and whether Republicans will bend to his predilections. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7346324/greenland-trump-polls-annexation-denmark/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7346324/greenland-trump-polls-annexation-denmark/"},"headline":"Americans Don't Want Greenland. 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