Waging War on the Drug Cartels
The majority of Republicans, Democrats, and independents support designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations, even if that means military action in Mexico or Central America.
Sixty-eight percent of registered voters support designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations – even if that means using the U.S. military in Mexico and Central America, just as we did to fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Just 22% oppose the action.
WHY IT MATTERS – Deaths from drug overdoses continue to set records driven by a massive increase in deaths from fentanyl – a deadly synthetic opioid.
THE INTRIGUE – The support is strong even though the survey question made a direct comparison between fighting drug cartels in Mexico and Central America and fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
This suggests voters believe the drug overdose crisis is bad enough to risk military casualties.
HOW TO USE THIS DATA – Treating drug cartels as if they are terrorist groups is a potential magnet issue that draws support from all voter demographics.
Click on the image below to read the full report…or read the summary below.
More than 2 in 3 voters support designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations – even if that means military action in Mexico and Central America.
This includes 68% of all registered voters and 69% of likely voters. Only 22% of both groups oppose.
Less likely voters support naming drug cartels as terrorist organizations by a narrower 60%-25%.
Republicans (80%), independents (63%), and Democrats (60%) support the action.
Older voters (Gen X: 71%, Boomer+: 72%) support naming the cartels as terrorists more strongly than younger voters (Gen Z: 55%).
America’s New Majority voters support the action 74%- 17%.
New Majority voters leaning toward voting for a Democrat for Congress support the action 70%-20%, compared to just 48%-40% support from Left Minority voters. This is a significant split.