A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Friday found only 29% of Americans support using U.S. military force to kill suspected drug traffickers without a judge — a striking public rebuke of an administration strategy that has already staged roughly 19–20 strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and, by Reuters’ count, killed scores of people.

The survey, conducted online of 1,200 adults from November 7–12, also showed just 35% back using U.S. forces in Venezuela to combat trafficking and only 21% favor military action to remove President Nicolás Maduro, underscoring reluctance to broaden a campaign critics call extrajudicial and dangerous.

Washington frames the operations as a wartime response to cartels; human-rights organizations and legal analysts warn the strikes risk breaching international law and normalizing bypassing courts.

The administration’s recent steps — including CIA authorities for covert operations in Venezuela and a $50 million reward for information on Maduro — have amplified Caracas’s warnings and prompted Venezuela to mobilize defenses as U.S. carrier forces enter the region.

Taken together, the poll and the regional deployments expose both a domestic political cost and a legal-strategic dilemma: a U.S. policy that sacrifices established interdiction and prosecution norms risks inflaming a regional confrontation while enjoying only limited public backing at home.