A survey has shown that 85% of the population of the self-governing Arctic territory do not want to be part of the United States.
The overwhelming majority of the population of Greenland opposes secession from Denmark. This is a blow to President Donald Trump's insistence that the island wants to join the United States.
Bloomberg reports this.
A Verian poll commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic publication Sermitsiaq found that 85% of the population of the self-governing Arctic territory do not want to be part of the United States. Only 6% said they would prefer the United States, while 9% were undecided. Only 6% said they would prefer the United States, while 9% were undecided.
Trump insists he wants to seize the world's largest island for security reasons and has refused to rule out the use of force. He has also claimed that the people of Greenland preferred to be part of the United States. His interest in the territory stems from his first term in office.
“The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark,” Trump said on January 21. “You know, I think they're happy with us.”
That view is not shared by Greenland's leaders, many of whom are also seeking independence. Although the island is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, its 57,000 people have a great deal of self-government.
“We don't want to be Danish, we don't want to be American, we certainly want to be Greenlanders,” the territory's prime minister, Mute Boerup Egede, said recently.
“Trump shouldn't get Greenland,” said Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark's foreign minister. “Greenland is Greenland. The Greenlandic people are a people also in the sense of international law, and they ultimately determine their own situation.”
The survey included 497 interviews conducted online from January 22 to 26, including a representative sample of Greenlanders aged 18 and over. The statistical uncertainty of the answers is about 3.1 percentage points.
The survey also found that 45% of Greenlanders consider Trump's interest in Greenland a threat. Only about 8% would take a US passport if they had to make an instant choice between Danish and American citizenship.
Earlier Donald Trump admitted why he needs Greenland.
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