Two-thirds of Taiwanese say they would defend the island if attacked, poll finds

Almost two in three people in Taiwan say they would accept the risks of defending the island if it came under military attack, according to a survey published in Taipei on 11 November. The poll found 66.4% of respondents willing to defend Taiwan, against 16.2% who said they were unwilling and 17.4% who gave a neutral answer.

The survey was released by the World United Formosans for Independence together with the Taiwan National Security Institute, and was carried out for them by the polling firm Shanshui Public Opinion Research. Interviewers reached 1,077 people aged 15 and older by landline and mobile phone between 31 October and 3 November. The sponsors put the margin of error at about 2.99 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with results weighted by region, sex, age and education.

Within the headline figure, 48.7% said they were very willing to defend Taiwan and 17.8% said they were fairly willing. On the unwilling side, 5.8% said they were not very willing and 10.4% said they were not willing at all. Radio Taiwan International reported that the overall share willing to fight rose from 64.0% in the same survey last year, and Newtalk reported that the average score on a five-point scale climbed from 3.77 to 3.89.

Support for a formal military alliance with the United States also rose slightly. The poll found 58.8% in favour of building a military alliance for mutual assistance, made up of 38.7% who strongly agreed and 20.1% who somewhat agreed, while 17.7% disagreed. Radio Taiwan International said that compared with 56.9% last year but remained well below the 68.6% recorded in 2021.

The two questions are closely linked in the data. Among respondents who backed an alliance with Washington, 83.7% said they were willing to defend Taiwan, compared with 32.5% among those who opposed one, according to Radio Taiwan International.

The results also split along other lines. Men were more willing than women to defend the island, at 68.5% against 64.4%, and more supportive of a US alliance, at 64.6% against 53.2%. Among people satisfied with the government's overall performance, 88.0% said they would defend Taiwan. Among those dissatisfied with the government, 41.1% said they would still do so while 37.8% said they would not, Newtalk reported.

At a press conference on the findings, Kuma Academy chief executive Aha Chu said closer cooperation with the United States on logistics and personnel training could add to Taiwan's own defence efforts. He argued that people with different views on an alliance could still find common ground on defending the island. Kyle Lin, deputy managing director of the group Better Together for NextGen Taiwan, warned that constant reminders of security threats risk tiring the public, and said defence education should show people how their own participation can make a difference.

The sponsoring group campaigns for Taiwan independence, and the same survey asked about national identity and relations with China. It found 46.0% leaning towards independence, 10.7% leaning towards unification and 37.7% preferring to keep the status quo indefinitely, the Liberty Times reported.

Radio Taiwan International described public willingness to defend Taiwan as broadly stable in recent years. Because the sponsors repeat the same questions in each annual edition, the latest figures can be compared directly with their 2025 survey, which found 64.0% willing to defend the island and 56.9% in favour of a military alliance with the United States.