Americans are deeply divided on the recent U.S. military action in Venezuela to capture Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and take control of Venezuela and its oil industry, according to 27 questions asked of U.S. adults on a series of seven brief surveys in a 48-hour period immediately after Maduro was captured.
Among the areas of nearly even division about the U.S. action in Venezuela:
- 36% of U.S. adults support and 39% oppose the U.S. using military force to overthrow and capture Maduro and bring him and his wife to the U.S. to face trial
- 36% consider the U.S. to be at war with Venezuela; 35% don't
- 34% think U.S. military intervention will improve the situation in Venezuela; 35% think the action will worsen the situation
One way of accounting for the split is that Americans are skeptical of unilateral international intervention by their government while holding mostly negative feelings about Maduro. Americans are twice as likely to say Trump should have sought congressional authorization for his action than to say he shouldn't have (51% vs. 23%). And more Americans say their foreign-policy preference for Latin America is "the U.S. should be a good neighbor and avoid interfering in domestic affairs" than say they more closely align with a policy that "the U.S. should intervene militarily to set right flagrant wrongdoings" (46% vs. 27%). Only 29% think recent U.S. military actions in and near Venezuela generally have followed U.S. law, while 39% say the actions generally have violated U.S. law.
But Americans also generally have negative views of Maduro and his leadership. 36% think the U.S. is better off with Maduro overthrown and only 10% say the U.S. would do better with Maduro remaining in power (55% are not sure). 41% say Maduro should be found guilty of any of the U.S. government's charges against him; only 12% say he shouldn't (47% are not sure).
Opinion was more sharply negative toward military action in Venezuela before the capture of Maduro. An increase in the share of Republicans with positive opinions about military intervention and the justification for the Venezuela action mostly accounts for the change. There has been an increase since just before Maduro's capture among Republicans in the beliefs that Maduro presented a "national emergency" (polls before and after Maduro's capture), that U.S. foreign military interventions more often improve situations in the countries where they occur (before and after), that the probability of a world war have fallen (before and after), and that Trump could call for military action in Venezuela without congressional authorization (before and after).
Broader opinion about intervention changed among both Democrats and Republicans: Democrats have become less supportive of the U.S. taking an active part in world affairs, and Republicans more supportive, than they were a month before.
More Americans generally question Donald Trump's fitness for handling Venezuela and the military than give him a vote of confidence. More are negative than positive about Trump's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis (53% uneasy vs. 36% confident); America's standing in the world in his second term (44% worsened vs. 32% improved); Trump's handling of Venezuela (46% disapprove vs. 39% approve) and the military (51% disapprove vs. 39%); and Trump’s ability to be an effective commander in chief (50% not too or not at all confident vs. 41% very or somewhat confident).
Related:
- There is scant American support for military action against Venezuela
- Only a small share of Americans consider Venezuela to be a national emergency
- The U.S. Navy deployment near Venezuela has become even less popular in the past month
- Which U.S. military interventions do Americans think have been successful?
— David Montgomery contributed to this article
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See the results of these polls:
January 3, 2026 | 2,092 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 2.7 points
- Do you support or oppose the U.S. using military force to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and bring him and his wife to the U.S. to face trial?
- Do you think recent U.S. military actions in and near Venezuela have made the U.S. ...?
- Do you think the U.S. is better off with Nicolás Maduro ...?
- Before President Trump used military force in Venezuela, should he first have sought authorization from the U.S. Congress?
January 3, 2026 | 1,902 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 2.8 points
- Do you support or oppose the U.S. running Venezuela following the U.S. military's capture of President Nicolás Maduro?
- How much resistance do you think the U.S. will encounter in trying to run Venezuela?
- Which of the following is closer to your view of what U.S. policy toward Latin American countries should be?
- Do you think Nicolás Maduro should be found guilty of any of the U.S. government's charges against him?
January 3, 2026 | 1,030 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 3.5 points
- Do you consider the U.S. to be at war with Venezuela?
- Are you confident in Donald Trump's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, or are you uneasy about his approach?
- Compared to five years ago, would you say there is a greater chance, a lesser chance, or about the same chance of a world war?
January 3-4, 2026 | 1,041 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 3.1 points
- Do you think U.S. companies will take control of Venezuela's oil reserves?
- Do you think U.S. companies should take control of Venezuela's oil reserves?
- Do you think recent U.S. military actions in and near Venezuela generally have ...?
- Do you think Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would receive a fair trial in the U.S.?
January 4, 2026 | 991 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 3.6 points
- Do you think that U.S. foreign military interventions more often improve or worsen situations in the countries where they occur?
- Do you think U.S. military intervention will improve or worsen the situation in Venezuela?
- Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling Venezuela?
- Do you think America’s standing in the world has improved or worsened since Donald Trump became president again in 2025?
January 4, 2026 | 2,050 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 2.9 points
- Do you think the U.S. should take an active part in world affairs or stay out of world affairs?
- Do you think the situation in Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro's government was a "national emergency" for the U.S.?
- How confident are you in Donald Trump’s ability to be an effective commander in chief of the nation’s military?
- Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the military?
January 4-5, 2026 | 1,477 U.S. adults | margin of error +/- 2.8 points
- How do you think Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. feel about the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro?
- Do you think recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela will increase or decrease the number of refugees fleeing Venezuela?
- After recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela, do you think the U.S. should...?
- After the U.S. military's capture of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, do you think the U.S. should...?
Methodology: The seven Daily Questions surveys were conducted online between January 3 - 5, 2026 among U.S. adults, with between 991 and 2,092 respondents on each survey. For each survey, the samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error for the overall sample on each survey is between approximately 2.7 points and 3.6 points.
Image: Getty (Michael M. Santiago)
