A recent CBS News poll shows Americans are split on the Trump administration's operation to remove Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela. This comes as President Trump comments on the country's future. CBS News' Anthony Salvanto has more on the data.

Washington

A recent CBS News poll shows that Americans are closely divided over U.S. military actions aimed at removing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with 48% in approval and 52% disapproving. The poll also highlights that a significant majority of Americans believe the administration has not clearly explained its goals in Venezuela, leading to widespread uncertainty about future U.S. involvement.

Many respondents suspect that access to Venezuelan oil is a primary motive for U.S. actions, while some, particularly Republicans, cite stopping drug trafficking as a key objective. The majority of Americans prefer little or no U.S. control over Venezuela and are wary of further military intervention, especially if regional cooperation is lacking. Economic concerns remain a top priority for most Americans as the situation develops.

New poll shows Americans are divided on Venezuela

U.S. is now in possession of two oil tankers linked to Venezuela just days after carrying out a military operation in the South American country. You may remember we brought you this live yesterday morning as it was unfolding. The U.S. Southern Command posted this video showing the apprehension of one of those vessels in the Caribbean. The government claimed it was involved in illicit activities. President Trump told the New York Times reporters, or New York Times reporters, I should say, in a wide-ranging interview yesterday that U.S. oversight of Venezuela could last for years. His administration's actions against the South American country are continuing to divide officials, though, in Washington. The level of sophistication that Senate just was briefed on and the House was briefed on, a classified level, is something only the United States of America can accomplish. The world is taking notice of that. Certainly Venezuela's taking notice of that. And it continues because two oil tankers, two overnight, were seized by the United States. What happens next, there are plans and procedures in place, but it's impossible to know exactly how it's all gonna play out. We have to see how that works. I trust the people who are in charge of this. I'm concerned that there seems to be no plan, no strategy for what comes next. The administration seems to be acting minute-to-minute, day-by-day, without a clear objective. Frankly, I think the only people who are getting the truth here, and the president confirmed this on Air Force One, are the oil executives who stand to make record-breaking profits. And having fought in a war for oil, I refuse to allow that to happen again. Now, the division over Venezuela, it's not unique to Washington. Take a look at this. It's fresh new CBS News polling that shows 48% of Americans approve of the US military's removing Nicolas Maduro from power, but 52% disapprove. Joining us now to break down what's behind it all is CBS News Elections and Surveys Executive Director, Anthony Salvato. Good morning, Anthony. Good morning. Great to have you on this topic, and I'm very interested to know what's behind Americans' views as they share with you what they think. Divisions, as with so many things we see, right? Start with this, which is that seven in 10 don't think the administration has clearly explained what it sees as the US goals. What's important about that is then when you ask people what do they think the goals here are, one of the top answers is getting access to Venezuela's oil, right? Less, but a lot of Republicans, and that's important, say it's about stopping drugs from entering the US. What's important about all this is what you think the goals are is part and parcel with your approval and disapproval, because look at this. If you think it's a lot about getting access to oil, more likely to disapprove of the action, but stopping drugs, and you're more likely to approve it. So what you think the goals are goes to your approval. And that's a key distinction, because now many Americans will wonder what happens next. The administration wants to get public support for whatever that may be. It's taxpayer dollars at use here. So what do Americans think of the next step? Exactly, so take a look at this. How much control should the US now have over and in Venezuela? Look at this big number that says not much or none. So that's what people want, or in this case, don't want the majority. The other part of this is what do people think it will need to have in terms of the military? And here you see a third think there will still be a lot of military involvement, the bulk of at least some. So this is this collective uncertainty about what's going to happen next. All of this goes back to that approval, right? The folks who think it will have a lot or some may be more likely then to be reluctant to approve or more disapproving of the action. And if I think of just the other headlines you've shared from polling in the past six months, if most Americans want some or no intervention in Venezuela and if the economy and prices are the things they're most concerned about, what kind of political picture does this create for the administration, for Democrats who are trying to negotiate where we go from here? Yeah, this is all part of it because what I think happens is what do people see as what should the US do if in this case, let me use this example to your question, if other countries in the region don't cooperate and this big number would oppose further military action. So you're starting to see this landscape of how people will evaluate this going forward based on what happens and a lot of it hinges on how much military involvement they see happening. Yeah, fascinating results there. Viewers can dive into all of it at cbsnews.com. Anthony Servato, appreciate you and your team's work. Thank you.

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