Fact Check: Has Greenland Voted To Join United States?
Multiple social media posts claim Greenland has voted to join the US. These claims surfaced after US President Donald Trump expressed interest in acquiring Greenland.
- The Verdict: Misleading Greenland did not vote to join the United States. The online posts misinterpreted the results of an opinion poll.
Context
Multiple social media posts claim Greenland has voted to join the United States (examples archived here, here, and here).
These claims surfaced after US President Donald Trump expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly said Greenland “is not for sale”, and the island’s future is up to the people of Greenland.
Many posts circulating on X, Facebook, Threads, and Telegram re-shared a TikTok video that refers to a poll by Patriot Polling, which found that 57 percent of Greenland residents support joining the United States. The video has more than 70,000 likes (archived here).
An X post with more than three million views also shared the video with comments like “Greenland votes to join the US. The people of Greenland have spoken — an overwhelming vote to break free from Denmark and join the United States. Will Denmark dare to defy democracy?” (archived here).
However, Greenland has not voted to join the United States. Logically Facts found that the posts misinterpreted the results of an opinion poll.
In fact
According to its website, Patriot Polling “conducts surveys across America, providing a window into the current political climate”. On January 13, it published a poll headlined “Greenland supports joining the United States”.
Poll results show that 57.3 percent of respondents supported Greenland becoming a part of the US, while 37.4 percent disapproved. Five percent of respondents were undecided.
However, this does not constitute a vote by Greenlanders to join the US, as it is not an official democratic process.
To obtain these results, Patriot Polling says it surveyed 416 people in Greenland.
Its website also notes the poll was conducted when President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., visited the island. No further information about how this specific poll was conducted is available — only a general survey methodology is available on the website.
Logically Facts contacted Patriot Polling for further information but received no response.
Patriot Polling appears on the 538 pollster rating database, which rates pollsters in the US by analyzing polling organisations’ historical accuracy and methodological transparency. It received a one-out-of-three-star rating.
Some reputable international media have reported the poll’s results, but some Danish commentary questioned its credibility. The original video was posted by a TikTok account whose content consists of animated videos of maps with voiceovers covering geographical history and current world affairs, often lacking sourcing and mixing facts and unverified information.
Political statements and local opinion poll suggest Greenland does not want to join the US
A Google search yielded no results for an official vote to join the United States.
Our search led us to an opinion poll by Verian and commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and Greenlandic Mediehuset Sermitsiaq. According to this survey, from January 2025, 85 percent did not want to become part of the US, while six percent wished to do so, and nine percent of respondents were unsure.
The survey included 497 randomly selected participants aged 18 or older and was held from January 22 to 26, 2025. Reputable media outlets, including Reuters, reported the results of this survey.
The Prime Minister of Greenland, Múte B. Egede, stated, “We do not want to be Danes, we do not want to be Americans” at the biannual assembly of Denmark and two territories of its kingdom, Greenland and the Faroe Islands on January 10.
Egede also announced Greenland will hold a general election on March 11. The upcoming campaign is expected to revolve around Greenland’s independence, economic future, and ties with Denmark and the United States.
If the current status quo were to change, local opinion polling suggests independence from Denmark is a more favoured option for Greenlanders.
Prime Minister Egede has suggested independence for the island from Denmark. According to the same Verian survey, 56 percent of Greenlanders would vote yes to independence if a referendum was held today. A total of 28 percent would vote no, and 17 percent did not know.
The verdict
Greenland did not vote to join the United States in February 2025. The claim appears to originate from a misinterpretation of the results of an opinion poll by Patriot Polling. Therefore, we marked the claim as misleading.
This report first appeared on logicallyfacts.com, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.
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