Goodbye America! A quarter of US adults want their state to secede – Texans, Californians, and New Yorkers are closest to the exit, but can YOU guess which state wants out the most?
Calls for Texas to secede from the US are growing louder, with advocates saying it could then stem the flow of migrants from Mexico without being crippled by the federal government.
The Lone Star State may have the loudest secessionist movement in the country, but it is not the most popular.
That label goes to Alaska, according to a new study.
Researchers found that more than a third of Alaskans – 36 percent – want the Last Frontier to end it all and leave the union.
Only Alaskans would rather leave the union than Texans. Pictured: A Texas Nationalist Movement rally in February
Alaska is the most separatist state in the US. It became a member of the country in 1867
That’s a more popular move than the 31 percent of residents seeking a “Texit,” as Texas’ departure is called.
It’s not just Republican states that want out, says pollster YouGov.
Democratic-run California and New York are next in line to abandon ship, with 29 percent and 28 percent of residents, respectively, in favor of secession.
Oklahomans (28 percent), Nebraskans (25 percent), Georgians (25 percent), Floridans (24 percent) and Washingtonians (24 percent) are also looking out the window.
At the other end of the spectrum is Connecticut, where only 9 percent of relatively satisfied residents are looking for a way out.
Pollster Taylor Orth said last month’s survey of about 35,000 adults showed “significant support” for dividing the country.
Nationally, 23 percent of respondents said they wanted their state to opt out.
About half (51 percent) were against secession and 27 percent were unsure.
Americans have turned to TikTok to ask the big questions about secession, and what happens when they break away
Republicans are more in favor of secession than Democrats, regardless of whether they live in a red or blue state
Paul Roberts, a writer for the Seattle Times, said the separatist star was rising.
He attributed this to “political polarization, growing urban-rural tensions, and divisions between states… and the federal government over issues such as immigration and border security.”
Younger adults are more interested in separation than their elders, researchers found.
And Republicans are greater proponents of splitting than Democrats — regardless of whether they live in Red or Blue States, Orth wrote in her report.
The states with the largest share of secessionists have no direct relationship with politics, the report said.
It has more to do with a state’s size, population and perhaps even its economy, researchers said.
Secessionist-oriented Alaska, Texas, California and New York all rank highly in terms of population and landmass.
Texas Nationalist Movement President Daniel Miller makes a pledge of allegiance at a barbecue restaurant in Cypress, Texas
Americans from as far away as California, Texas and Washington are posting about secession
They also have enough economic power to go it alone – with the exception of Alaska.
Yet the Last Frontier already has enough oil and mining money to pay residents more than $1,300 each year.
The state’s influential Alaskan Independence Party has been pushing for a referendum in the state for decades, while calling for gun rights, homeschooling, small government and the fight against abortion.
But popular support alone is not enough to get states to secede – as evidenced by the breakaway Confederacy during the Civil War.
Many legal scholars say the U.S. Constitution does not allow states to withdraw.
The pollster found that Americans were less sure about that.
About a quarter said states could secede under the Constitution, while a third said this was not possible.
Another four in ten weren’t sure.
Support for secession is more related to a state’s landmass and population size than to politics
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says claims he supports Texit are ‘false narratives’
Texas Republicans are among the most passionate secessionists in the US; more than 44 percent of them support Texit.
Its proponents say the dramatic move — loosely inspired by Britain’s Brexit exit from the European Union — would help resolve a roiling immigration border crisis and a fight with Washington over who controls the border with Mexico.
That battle, involving President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Republican Governor Greg Abbott, has exposed a rift in America.
Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, says leaving the union is the only way to have a “sensible immigration system.”
He recently told AFP that his movement, founded in 2005, had never been so close to achieving its goal.
But Abbott poured cold water on the plan this weekend.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, he said claims he was a Texit fan were ‘false stories’.
His deployment of Texas National Guard soldiers to the border was not an attempt to take over the federal government, but merely a way to “enforce the law,” he added.