The public are divided on whether the raid should have been responded to with condemnation or neutrality
Key takeaways
51% of Britons say they disapprove of US actions to capture Maduro; only 21% approvePublic split between 32% who think the UK government should have condemned the operation and 34% who say they should neither have condemned nor praised itOnly 8% say they should have praised the US’s actionsJust 2% of Britons have a favourable view of Maduro, compared to 33% unfavourable (65% say “don’t know”)Donald Trump’s favourability ratings in UK unaffected by the raid
On Saturday, the US military struck military targets in Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. The Latin American leader has since been transported to New York, where he is being charged with various drugs and weapons offences.
The raid has stunned the world, but outraged many for potentially running contrary to international law, with others fearing that it could set a precedent for authoritarian states to follow.
Results of a new YouGov poll conducted today find that Britons disapprove of the US government’s actions (51%), including 34% who “completely disapprove”. By contrast, only 21% approve of the Venezuelan president’s capture.
Reform UK voters are the only 2024 voting group who are primarily in favour of the military operation (49% approve, versus 22% who disapprove), compared to approval rates of only 31% among Tories, 12% of Labour and Lib Dems and 5% of Greens.
The British government – among others – has come in for criticism for their failure to condemn the raid.
The public are split in the line they think the government should take in response: 32% think they should have condemned the actions, but 32% think the government was right to neither condemn not praise Trump’s decision. Only 8% think the government should have praised the US president.
Neither praising nor condemning the operation is the preferred approach of a plurality of Tory (49%) and Reform UK (40%) voters, while 42% of Labour and Lib Dem and 65% of Green voters believe the US actions should have been condemned.
While Britons disapprove of the Venezuela raid, there is no love lost on Maduro or his government
The operation does not seem to have impacted opinion towards Donald Trump, with the 20% holding a favourable view of the US president and the 76% having a negative view being effectively unchanged from our most recent survey in mid-December.
While Nicolas Maduro is poorly-known in the UK – 65% answered “don’t know” when asked what they think of him – but the number who dislike the Venezuelan leader dramatically outnumber those with a positive view, by 33% to 2%.
Similarly, public attitudes towards the government of Venezuela more specifically are similarly negative – only 4% hold a favourable view compared to 42% with an unfavourable one (while 54% are unsure).