Poll: 71% of registered US voters support Trump's strikes on boats smuggling drugs

Seventy-one percent of registered U.S. voters support President Trump's strikes on boats smuggling drugs from South America.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Tuesday showed that 89% of Republicans, 67% of Independents, and 56% of Democrats are supportive of the U.S. military strikes, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The military has launched strikes that destroyed at least four drug-smuggling boats operated by South American cartels in international waters off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, killing more than 20 drug traffickers since early September, officials said.

"A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory," Trump said last week.

The Trump administration told Congress last week that the U.S. is now "in a non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels, which the State Department earlier this year designated as "foreign terrorist organizations."

The military has carried out at least four strikes on boats that the White House said were carrying drugs, including three it said originated from Venezuela, according to the Associated Press. 

Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled Senate voted down a Democrat-led war powers resolution that would have required Trump to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes on the cartels, the wire service also reports.

The poll also showed that 78% of voters support the deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, and 86% approve of "lowering prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients and low-income patients." Three-fourths of Americans also support eliminating fraud and waste in government spending.

The survey was conducted on Oct. 1-2, among 2,413 registered voters by The Harris Poll and HarrisX, with a margin of error of +/- 1.99 points.