The Reuters/Ipsos online poll found just 29% of Americans back using the U.S. military to kill suspected drug traffickers without judicial oversight, while 51% oppose it. Support splits sharply by party: a majority of Republicans favor the tactic, while most Democrats oppose it. The administration has authorized at least 20 strikes that reportedly killed 79 people, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and raising international law concerns. Public backing for military action in Venezuela is limited.
Majority of Americans Oppose Using U.S. Military to Kill Suspected Drug Traffickers, Poll Finds
The Reuters/Ipsos online poll found just 29% of Americans back using the U.S. military to kill suspected drug traffickers without judicial oversight, while 51% oppose it. Support splits sharply by party: a majority of Republicans favor the tactic, while most Democrats oppose it. The administration has authorized at least 20 strikes that reportedly killed 79 people, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and raising international law concerns. Public backing for military action in Venezuela is limited.
08:07 PM, 11/14/2025Politics
Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Limited Public Support for Military Killings of Drug Suspects
An online Reuters/Ipsos survey found that only 29% of U.S. adults support using the U.S. military to kill suspected drug traffickers without judicial oversight, while 51% oppose the practice and the remainder are unsure. The six-day poll closed as Washington increased its military presence around Latin America, with particular focus on Venezuela.
Partisan divisions are stark: 58% of Republicans expressed support for the strikes and 27% opposed them, while roughly three-quarters of Democrats opposed the tactic and about one in ten supported it. Overall public backing for military action in Venezuela is limited—35% support using force there to curb illicit drug flows without Caracas's consent.
The administration has ordered at least 20 strikes in recent months against suspected drug-running vessels in the Caribbean and off Pacific coasts of Latin America. U.S. officials say those operations have killed at least 79 people. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians, and some U.S. allies have warned the operations may violate international law.
Amnesty International and other rights groups have described the strikes as potentially unlawful and have urged greater oversight and accountability.
Officials frame the operations as part of a "war on cartels," arguing that battlefield conditions may remove the need for conventional court processes. The strikes represent a sharp break from longstanding U.S. practice, which typically relied on the U.S. Coast Guard to intercept maritime shipments and prosecute suspects through the courts.
The U.S. deployed the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and its strike group—more than 5,000 personnel and dozens of warplanes—into the Caribbean, adding to an existing task force of warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says the buildup is aimed at ousting him; the Trump administration has publicly signaled interest in nontransparent measures, including authorizing the CIA to carry out covert operations and offering rewards for information targeting Maduro.
Only 21% of poll respondents supported using U.S. military force to remove Maduro, while 31% favored non-military efforts to achieve his ouster. The Reuters/Ipsos online poll surveyed 1,200 U.S. adults nationwide and has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.