A recent poll reported by Newsweek indicates that 36% of Alaskans favor secession from the United States.
That figure is considerably above the national average of 23 percent. The survey of 35,307 U.S. adults was conducted by YouGov between February 2 and 5.
Alaska claims that it has a distinct culture, history, and geography that make it different from the rest of the country. They feel they do not belong.
While Alaskans top the list, they are not alone in their separatist sentiment. Other states that have a high proportion of residents who want to secede include Texas (31 percent), California (29 percent), New York (28 percent) and Oklahoma (28 percent). These states have different political, economic and cultural reasons for wanting to break away from the U.S., but they all share a common dissatisfaction with the federal government and its policies.
The Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) was founded in the 1970s and advocates for a referendum on Alaska’s status as a state. In addition to adducing cultural and geographic differences, the AIP argues that Alaska was illegally annexed by the U.S. in 1959 and that Alaskans have the right to self-determination.
Similarly, the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) has been pushing for a vote on Texas’ independence since 2005. The TNM claims that Texas has been mistreated by the U.S. government and that Texans would be better off as a sovereign nation. The TNM has gained support from some Republican lawmakers and celebrities, such as actor Chuck Norris.
California has seen several attempts to secede or split into multiple states over the years, but the most prominent one is the Yes California campaign, which was launched in 2016 after Donald Trump won the presidential election. Yes California argues that California is culturally and politically incompatible with the rest of the U.S. and that Californians would benefit from having more control over their own affairs. Likewise, New York has had some secession proposals from both upstate and downstate regions, but the most notable one is the New Amsterdam Project, which was started in 2017 by a group of New Yorkers who want to create a new state out of New York City and its surrounding counties. The New Amsterdam Project contends that New York City is underrepresented and overtaxed by the state government and that it deserves more autonomy and recognition.
This discontent with national unity has grown appreciably since the GOP was taken over by former president Donald Trump and his supporters. In February 2023, House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene went as far as to suggest there could be a “national divorce” between Republican and Democratic states resulting in almost all powers stripped from the federal government and devolved to the state level.
Despite polls like the latest one that shows a full 36% of Alaska residents advocate secession, and the growing desire in other states, it is widely accepted that secession is not a realistic or legal option for any state, as the U.S. Constitution does not allow for it and the Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional.
Such a breakup of the union would have many negative consequences for both the seceding states and the remaining U.S., such as economic losses, political instability, social unrest and potential violence.
