Most take Trump’s Canada, Greenland and third-term ideas seriously — and oppose them: poll

Article content

President Donald Trump has proposed taking over Canada and Greenland, imprisoning U.S. citizens overseas, and serving an unconstitutional third term.

Most Americans say they think he’s serious about each proposal. And most, including many Republicans, oppose each one.

That’s according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll that surveyed 2,464 Americans about his ideas, which are often light on details and sometimes sit on questionable legal ground. It can often be difficult to know how serious Trump is about a proposal until he acts on it.

A majority, 62 per cent, say Trump is serious about serving a third term as president, even though the Constitution prohibits him from running again. Fewer than 4 in 10 Republicans think Trump is serious about doing this (and most Republicans oppose it), while about 6 in 10 independents and almost 9 in 10 Democrats think he is.

Trump has increasingly flirted with the idea of a third run. The Trump Organization website now sells a T-shirt saying “Trump 2028 (Rewrite the Rules)” and a “Trump 2028” baseball cap. Trump has suggested “methods” exist that would allow him to serve again. The 22nd Amendment says “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

The poll finds 71 per cent of Americans think Trump is serious about sending American citizens convicted of crimes to prisons in other countries, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. Trump has repeatedly raised the idea, saying “I’m all for it” this month when asked about the offer by El Salvador’s president to hold U.S. citizens in the country’s prisons, adding that “I have to see what the law says.” Immigration experts say there is no legal way for a person with U.S. citizenship to be deported.

A similar 68 per cent majority thinks Trump is serious about the U.S. trying to take control of Greenland, a perception that also crosses party lines. Trump has said the United States will “get” Greenland, and White House officials have tried to determine the financial ramifications of the autonomous territory of Denmark becoming a U.S. territory.

Lastly, 53 per cent of the public thinks Trump is serious about trying to take control of Canada. Perceptions divide sharply on partisan lines, with 75 per cent of Democrats saying Trump is serious about this, compared with 49 per cent of independents and 35 per cent of Republicans.

Trump has said he would use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state of the U.S. and referred to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as “governor,” before imposing 25 per cent tariffs on cars, fuel and other goods from the country.

Support for Trump’s ideas ranges from low to extremely low. At best, 32 per cent support sending American citizens who are convicted of violent crimes to prisons in other countries, while about twice as many (66 per cent) oppose this. Support rises to 57 per cent among Republicans, but stands at 30 per cent among independents and 12 per cent among Democrats.

Just over 2 in 10 Americans (22 per cent) support the U.S. trying to take over Greenland, including 45 per cent of Republicans. A similar 18 per cent of U.S. adults support Trump serving a third term as president. While 38 per cent of Republicans support this, 60 per cent oppose it.

Trying to take over Canada is the least popular proposal, with 13 per cent of Americans supporting it and 86 per cent opposed. Even among Republicans, 71 per cent oppose trying to take control of Canada.

The poll finds that Americans who approve of Trump generally think he is serious about ideas they support and not serious about things they oppose. For instance, 60 percent of Trump approvers who support Trump running for a third term think he is serious about this idea, compared with 17 percent of Trump approvers who oppose the policy. And while 76 percent of Trump approvers who support imprisoning U.S. citizens overseas think Trump is serious about this, that drops to 26 percent among Trump approvers who oppose the idea.

The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll was conducted online April 18-22. The sample was drawn through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, an ongoing panel of U.S. households recruited by mail using random sampling methods. Overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.