Americans are united in their belief that the smuggling of drugs into the country is a problem – and more approve of the Trump Administration’s strikes on boats carrying those drugs to the U.S. than oppose the tactic, results of a new national survey reveal.
Just 4% of U.S. adult citizens, polled October 17-20 by The Economist/YouGov, say that smuggling drugs into the U.S. is “not a problem,” but two-thirds consider it to be a “major problem.“
Fully 86% of Americans say it’s either a major (64%) or minor (22%) problem for the nation. Another 10% aren’t sure.
While the percent who consider drug smuggling to be a problem is consistent across political affiliations, Democrats are less likely to think it’s a major problem (53%) than are either Republicans (83%) or Independents (57%).
To combat drug smuggling from the Caribbean, the U.S. military has begun conducting lethal strikes on the boats suspected of carrying those drugs to America, a tactic approved of by half (48%) of U.S. citizens and disapproved of by more than a third (38%).
Here, the partisan divide is more pronounced, with Democrats and Independents more likely to disapprove than approve (62%-23% and 48%-34%, respectively) and Republicans far more likely to support the measure (87%-6%).
