Just over half of Americans oppose the Trump administration’s military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean region and Pacific Ocean, according to a new poll released Friday.
Fifty-one percent of respondents for the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey said they were opposed to the military operations that have been killing alleged drug traffickers, who work for drug cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations, without the involvement of a court or judge. Only 29% of all respondents said they supported the strikes.
The issue reflects a partisan divide. A majority of Republicans, 58%, supported the extrajudicial approach, and a minority of Democrats, 8%, answered the same.
The poll demonstrates how unpopular the strikes ordered by President Donald Trump are among American citizens. So far, at least 80 people have been killed in 20 drone strikes since they started in early September.
The latest strike occurred earlier this week in the Caribbean, killing four “narcoterrorists,” as the Department of War describes them.
Federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have condemned the military actions primarily due to concerns over legality and the lack of congressional authorization. South American leaders have also criticized the strikes, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro alleging an ordinary fisherman was killed in international waters.
Petro is escalating his feud with Trump after Colombia stopped sharing intelligence with the United States this week. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is calling for peace as the Trump administration targets the foreign leader for facilitating drug smuggling into the U.S.
“We unite for the peace of the continent,” Maduro told CNN on Thursday. “No more endless wars, no more unjust wars. No more Libya, no more Afghanistan.”
While the Trump administration is facing public scrutiny, the Department of Justice concluded in a classified memo that American troops involved in the lethal strikes would not be subject to future prosecution. The legal opinion was drafted in July before the strikes commenced.
The new poll arrived one day after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the start of Operation Southern Spear, designed to eliminate narco-terrorists in the Western Hemisphere.
HEGSETH ANNOUNCES OPERATION SOUTHERN SPEAR TO REMOVE ‘NARCOTERRORISTS FROM OUR HEMISPHERE’
In a recycled statement to multiple news outlets over the past few weeks, the White House has repeatedly defended the Trump-ordered strikes on boats allegedly operated by drug traffickers.
“All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists, as affirmed by U.S. intelligence, bringing deadly poison to our shores,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, “and the president will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.”
