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Last week, the tech company Palantir posted to X 22 statements, taken from the book The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Palantir employees Alexander Karp & Nicholas Zamiska.

As journalists and social media users discussed the statements — claims about politics, society, and technology — YouGov did what we do best: We put all 22 statements in a poll and asked Americans whether they agree or disagree with each. We didn't identify the statements as coming from Palantir, or provide any additional context.

Our poll found more Americans agree than disagree with almost all of Palantir's 22 statements, though considerable numbers of Americans aren't sure whether they agree or disagree. (Asking if people agree or disagree is a useful framework for statements such as Palantir's and allow for comparing between statements, but because of a phenomenon known as "acquiescence bias," it can often find higher levels of support than other question formats. )

Some of the 22 statements are broadly popular, with 11 supported by 50% or more of Americans. For example, 62% of Americans strongly or somewhat agree, and only 14% disagree, with the statement that:

If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software. We should as a country be capable of continuing a debate about the appropriateness of military action abroad while remaining unflinching in our commitment to those we have asked to step into harm's way.

Less than 50% of Americans agree with each of the other 11 statements, though only two get more disagreement than agreement. 37% of Americans agree and 38% disagree that:

National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.

The statement with the lowest agreement and net agreement (28% agree and 31% disagree) is that:

The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price. A similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism will, if maintained, also threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia.

Agreement with specific statements may not correspond with agreement with the statements as a whole, which the survey didn't address.

Conservatives are more likely than liberals to agree with almost all of Palantir's 22 statements. But liberals are still more likely to agree than disagree with a majority of the statements.

Liberals are more likely to disagree than agree with six of the statements, with the most opposition to the statements about "national service" being a "universal duty," and undoing the "postwar neutering of Germany and Japan."

For only two of the 22 statements are liberals more likely than conservatives to agree. 62% of liberals agree and 14% disagree — for a net agreement of +48 — with the statement:

Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public.

That compares to 53% of conservatives who agree and 16% who disagree, a net agreement of +37.

72% of liberals agree and only 12% disagree that:

Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice.

That's a net agreement among liberals of +60. Among conservatives, 56% agree and 25% disagree, a net of +32.

See the results of this poll

Methodology: The April 20 - 22, 2026 poll was conducted among 1,120 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.

Image: Getty (Kevin Dietsch / Staff)

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