Seventy-five percent of Americans support using the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels, according to a new poll shared exclusively with the Daily Caller.
The poll was commissioned by the Senate Opportunity Fund and surveyed 800 likely voters online between Aug. 30 and Sep. 1 with an error margin of 3.5 percent.
Specifically, Americans were asked, “Would you support or oppose the U.S. military being deployed to root out drug cartels to prevent the continued spread of lethal drugs, like fentanyl, into our country?”
Forty-eight percent of respondents said they “somewhat support” using military force, while 28 percent said they would “strongly support” it. Majorities backed the proposal across ideological lines, with 64 percent of liberals, 76 percent of moderates and 86 percent of conservatives in favor of getting the military involved.
VIEW POLL HERE:
Senate Opportunity Fund by Diana Glebova on Scribd
Several 2024 GOP candidates have proposed using the military to target drug cartels amid a record number of drug overdose deaths — over 109,000 — in 2022. Former President Donald Trump, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have all proposed using the U.S. military to combat the cartels in Mexico. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump PAC Releases Ad Saying He Will Destroy Cartels ‘Like He Did ISIS’)
“My father’s border policies resulted in the first reduction in overdose deaths in over thirty years because he was the first President with the guts to use every tool at his disposal, including the military if necessary, to defend our people from the drug cartels,” Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, told the Daily Caller. “Now Biden’s open-borders insanity is empowering the cartels and leading to more American misery and death. It’s time to get serious again. Trump will make sure we’re focused on our border, not someone else’s far-off border in Eastern Europe.”
Members of Congress have also expressed their support for using the military to target the cartels. Republican Reps. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Mike Waltz of Florida introduced legislation in January that would authorize military force and “put us at war with the cartels.”
“The D.C. consensus is to use our military in every sphere of the world except our own border. I believe the opposite: deploy our troops to save the lives of our people and protect our sovereignty,” Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance told the Caller.
The Biden administration is opposed to using the military to target drug cartels, and has rejected the proposition of labeling the groups “terrorist organizations,” Politico reported. The Treasury Department has unleashed several sanctions packages to target cartel-linked entities and Chinese individuals and groups involved in fentanyl production. The administration also pledged $450 million to fight drug overdoses from fentanyl and other opioids.