President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestions of acquiring Greenland and taking over the Panama Canal are wildly popular with Republican voters, but less so with others.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters support Trump’s idea that the United States should acquire Greenland as a purchase in our national interest, including 25% who Strongly Support the idea. Forty-five percent (45%) oppose acquiring Greenland, including 36% who Strongly Oppose the idea. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.
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Similarly, 45% support Trump’s suggestion that the United States should take the Panama Canal back from Panama, with 47% opposed. On both issues, more than two-thirds of Republican voters support Trump, while Democrats are strongly opposed to acquiring either Greenland or the Panama Canal.
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Among voters who support the acquisition of Greenland, 95% also support the U.S. taking back the Panama Canal.
Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans support purchasing Greenland, while 68% of Democrats opposed the idea. Seventy-three percent (73%) of GOP voters support taking back the Panama Canal, while 72% are opposed to Trump’s suggestion. Voters not affiliated with either major party are more evenly divided – 40% supporting the acquisition of Greenland with 47% opposed, and 43% in support of retaking the Panama Canal with 47% opposed.
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Men are significantly more likely than women voters to support the U.S. acquiring both Greenland and the Panama Canal.
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Voters 65 and older – old enough to recall the unpopular 1977 deal by which President Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal – are more likely than younger voters to support the U.S. taking back the canal.
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While a majority (51%) of self-identified conservative voters Strongly Support the U.S. taking back the Panama Canal, 70% of liberals Strongly Oppose the idea.
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Entrepreneurs (52%) are more likely than retirees (49%), government employees (47%) or private sector workers (44%) to support the U.S. acquisition of Greenland.
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Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year are most likely to support Trump’s suggestion of taking back the Panama Canal.
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As he prepares for his second term in the White House, most voters think Donald Trump is doing a good job with the presidential transition.
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The survey of 1,211 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on January 8-9 and 12, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
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