Puerto Rico Public Opinion: 2026 Key Findings on Governance, Autonomy, and Identity

In 2025, the Laboratorio Puertorriqueño de Opinión Pública (LabPOP, or the Puerto Rican Public Opinion Lab) asked 1,266 adult residents of Puerto Rico about their views on a variety of issues affecting the archipelago. Surveys were administered in person, by telephone, and self-administered via internet-connected devices between April 26, 2025, and November 23, 2025. We obtained an overall response rate of 19.2% (using AAPOR Response Rate 6). Results have been weighted to reflect the full population of Puerto Rico, including both voters and non-voters. This allows us to capture the views of residents who do not or cannot participate in the electoral process, as well as those who do. Because plebiscite and election outcomes reflect only the views of those who turn out and complete a ballot, findings in this brief may diverge from election results.

In this brief, we document findings that illuminate how Puerto Ricans view governance structures, their perception of democratic constraints, and their own political agency.

Key findings

• Confidence in local governance is low. Fifty percent (50%) of residents believe the majority or all of Puerto Rico's elected officials are corrupt.
• Despite decades of status-centered politics, many Puerto Ricans today don't have strong preferences on primary status options.
• More Puerto Ricans reject a party label than claim one. Forty-two percent (42%) of residents do not identify with any political party — nearly twice as many as those who identified with the most popular party.
• Alignment between political status preference and party identification is fracturing.
• Seventy-two percent (72%) of residents say the Puerto Rican government has little or no power to make independent decisions without U.S. federal intervention.
• Reported racial identity in Puerto Rico is highly susceptible to survey design effects.