In a new YouGov survey, we find that Americans have become less likely to approve of the U.S. Navy deployment around Venezuela since September. Americans are more likely to oppose than to support military strikes on Venezuelan ships and on land targets. Most Americans would oppose a military invasion of Venezuela. More Americans would oppose than support using military force to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or conducting covert CIA operations in Venezuela. Another recent YouGov survey finds that Americans are divided about whether the U.S. strikes have been legal and whether the government has presented evidence that the targets have been drug smugglers.
In September, YouGov surveyed Americans about U.S. military actions around Venezuela, after the U.S. military amassed ships in the Caribbean Sea around Venezuela and began attacks on Venezuelan ships that the administration claimed were shipping drugs. These attacks have killed dozens. Maduro has accused the U.S. of attempting to start a war and mobilized the country's military in response. The United Nations has urged both countries to de-escalate.
In the month since that poll, developments in the Caribbean and in Washington have made the situation in and around Venezuela more uncertain. In early October, the Senate considered a bill that would limit the Trump administration's ability to attack ships. That bill did not pass, and the next week President Trump announced that he had authorized the CIA to conduct undercover operations in Venezuela and that he was considering military strikes on land targets in Venezuela. After these comments, senators introduced another bill that would prevent Trump from attacking targets on land or declaring war on Venezuela.
Approval of the U.S. Navy's presence around Venezuela has fallen since September
Since September, when YouGov last polled Americans about military actions around Venezuela, support for the Navy's presence has declined. In September, Americans' views were about evenly divided: 36% strongly or somewhat approved of the naval deployment and 38% disapproved. Today, the share who approve has fallen to 30%, while the share who disapprove is little changed, at 37%.
The greatest change in opinion has occurred among Republicans. While a majority of Republicans approve of the military presence around Venezuela, the share who say they approve has fallen to 58% from 68% in September. The share who disapprove has grown to 17% from 13%.
More Americans oppose than support military and CIA actions in and around Venezuela
After over a month of U.S. military attacks on ships around Venezuela, approval of these attacks remains low. Only 27% of Americans say they approve of the U.S. military attacking and destroying ships in the sea around Venezuela. 42% disapprove.
Most Democrats disapprove of the strikes: 67% disapprove while only 8% approve. And more Independents disapprove than approve (42% vs. 21%). On the other hand, a majority (55%) of Republicans approve of the strikes while 16% disapprove.
Striking land targets in Venezuela — which Trump says he is considering — is less popular than attacks on ships. Nearly half (47%) of Americans say they would strongly or somewhat oppose the U.S. military attacking and destroying targets on land in Venezuela. Only 19% say they would support such strikes.
Democrats would overwhelmingly oppose such attacks (68%, vs. 9% who would support them). Independents are also more likely to oppose than to support strikes on land (46% vs. 13%). Republicans are more closely divided; more say they would support such strikes (38%) than oppose them (27%).
As was the case in September, most Americans now would not like to see the U.S. engage in a more significant military conflict with Venezuela. A majority (55%) of Americans would oppose the U.S. invading Venezuela, while only 15% would support an invasion.
Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all are more likely to oppose a military invasion of Venezuela than to support one. Majorities of Democrats (73%) and Independents (55%) would oppose an invasion. Only 7% of Democrats and 11% of Independents would support an invasion. Republicans are more closely divided: 38% would oppose an invasion while 28% would support one.
Also similar to YouGov findings in September, Americans are more likely to oppose than support using military force to overthrow Maduro. Nearly half (46%) of Americans would oppose a military overthrow of Maduro, while only 18% would support it.
Support for covert CIA operations in Venezuela — re much more likely to oppose the U.S. military overthrowing Maduro than to support it (60% vs. 10% among Democrats and 48% vs. 11% among Independents). Republicans, on the other hand, are slightly more likely to support than to oppose a U.S. military overthrow of Maduro (35% vs. 30%).
Support for covert CIA operations in Venezuela — which Trump authorized in October — is also far from widespread. More Americans oppose the CIA engaging in covert operations in Venezuela than support it (37% vs. 28%).
As with attitudes about military involvement in Venezuela, Democrats and Independents are more likely to oppose covert CIA operations in Venezuela than to support them (53% vs. 17% among Democrats and 38% vs. 19% among Independents). In contrast, about half (49%) of Republicans support covert CIA operations in Venezuela; only 18% oppose them.
What Americans believe about recent boat strikes
A separate YouGov poll conducted October 24 - 28 asked specifically about U.S. military strikes on boats suspected of drug smuggling in international waters, which have killed several dozen people. Most Americans (81%) have heard either a lot or a little about these strikes. Views on the strikes are about evenly split: 42% of Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove of them and 43% disapprove of strikes described with the provided context that "the U.S. military has destroyed boats and killed several dozen people that the government claims were involved in drug smuggling."
These results show a higher approval rate for the boat strikes than a similar question asked the week before. In the poll conducted October 17 - 22, we asked Americans if they approve of the boat strikes without mentioning the number of people killed or the government's claims about drug smuggling. That poll found that only 27% of Americans said they approve of the boat strikes. The October 24 - 28 poll, gave the additional context about the number of people killed and the drug smuggling claims. That poll found that 42% approve. The shares who disapprove were almost identical between the two surveys (42% according to the earlier poll and 43% according to the more recent one).
We also asked Americans whether they believe a variety of claims that have been made related to the boat strikes.
Three-quarters (77%) of Americans believe it is definitely or probably true that "Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S." and 58% believe that "Venezuela plays a major role in trafficking drugs to the U.S." Far less Americans (24%) believe Trump's repeated claim that "every boat that the military has knocked out has saved 25,000 American lives."
Roughly half (51%) of Americans believe that the boats destroyed by the U.S. military "were smuggling illegal drugs" and nearly as many (48%) believe that the boats "were affiliated with terrorist or criminal organizations." 43% say it is true that "some of the boats destroyed by the U.S. military were civilian or fishing vessels."
Only 38% of Americans believe that "the government has publicly presented evidence that the boats destroyed by the U.S. military were smuggling illegal drugs." 37% think that "the U.S. military has legal authority to carry out these strikes in international waters" and 24% believe that "the U.S. military strikes on boats have been authorized by Congress." Between 17% and 29% of Americans say they are not sure about each of the nine claims included in the survey.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe claims made by the Trump administration about the boat strikes, including that Venezuela plays a major role in drug trafficking, that the boats destroyed were smuggling illegal drugs, and that they were affiliated with terrorist or criminal organizations. Majorities of Republicans also believe that the government has publicly presented evidence that the boats were smuggling drugs, that the military was authorized to carry out these strikes in international waters, and that the strikes were authorized by Congress. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that some of the boats were civilian or fishing vessels.
A majority (54%) of Americans disapprove and 35% approve of Trump's assertion on October 23 about the strikes that "I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We're going to kill them, you know? They're going to be, like, dead."
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for these YouGov surveys
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Methodology: The article includes results from two 2025 polls. One was conducted among 1,109 U.S. adult citizens from October 17 - 22. The other was conducted among 1,086 U.S. adult citizens from October 24 - 28. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
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