Seventy-one percent of Americans—including a majority of Democrats—say they support the U.S. military destroying boats that smuggle drugs from South America, according to a new poll.
Support for destroying drug-smuggling boats appears strong across party lines, with 89 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of Independents, and 56 percent of Democrats expressing approval, according to the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Tuesday
The finding comes as the Trump administration has carried out lethal strikes on drug-smuggling vessels in international waters off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks. Officials said the U.S. military has destroyed at least four boats operated by South American cartels, killing more than 20 drug traffickers since early September, according to the Washington Post.
“A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory,” President Donald Trump announced Friday in a Truth Social post. On Sept. 2, the U.S. military struck a boat, killing 11 people who Trump said were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Strikes on Sept. 15 and Sept. 19 killed more drug traffickers, officials said.
The Trump administration in a Thursday memo told Congress that the United States is now “in a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the State Department earlier this year designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
According to the Tuesday poll, a majority of Americans support the Trump administration’s other major initiatives. Seventy-eight percent of voters back deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, while 86 percent favor “lowering prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients and low-income patients.” Three in four Americans also support eliminating fraud and waste in government spending.
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