Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to military action in Venezuela, according to a Quinnipiac poll published on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump escalates pressure on Nicolás Maduro.
Sixty-three percent of respondents told Quinnipiac they are against military action against Caracas, which Trump has repeatedly declined to rule out, with just 25 percent expressing support. And 53 percent of respondents said they opposed the administration’s use of military strikes to kill alleged drug smugglers in international waters.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth release video of a strike that killed survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug boat at sea. The “double tap” strike could constitute a violation of international law, some legal experts and lawmakers allege.
But the president is continuing to hold open the possibility of more action against Venezuela. Last week, he refused to rule out the possibility of a ground invasion in an interview with POLITICO. On Tuesday, he ordered a blockade on the country, targeting sanctioned oil tankers, and said he would designate Maduro’s government as a foreign terrorist organization.
“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Americans also expressed concern with the president’s expanded executive authority, with 54 percent saying he has gone too far in wielding the power of the presidency, 37 percent saying he is handling it about right and 7 percent saying he has not been aggressive enough. The results were split along partisan lines: 96 percent of Democrats and only 11 percent of Republicans reported concerns regarding the president’s power.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO on the poll.
Their opinions matched a POLITICO Poll conducted last month, which found that 53 percent of Americans said Trump has too much power.
The Quinnipiac poll was conducted by telephone from Dec. 11-15, with a random sample of 1,035 self-identified registered voters. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Erin Doherty contributed to this report.
