More than half of Americans believe that the US government should only deploy armed troops in the event of external threats, according to a new survey.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Wednesday found that 58% of Americans believe that the president should only send in armed forces to areas with external threats. Meanwhile, 25% said that they believed the US military could be used for other purposes and 18% said that they were not sure.
The survey, which comes as Donald Trump continues to send or threaten to send armed national guard troops to major American cities including Portland, Baltimore, Chicago and Los Angeles – much to public outrage – found that 72% of Democrats agreed with the sentiment.
Notably, only a slight majority, 51%, of Republicans said that they agreed and 53% of respondents with other political affiliations said the same.
The survey also found that only 37% of all Americans believed that the president should be able to send in troops into a state even if its governor objects; 48% of responders said they disagreed and 15% said they were unsure.
Among those who agreed with Trump’s deploying of armed troops to a state despite a governor’s objection, 70% of Republicans said yes while only 13% of Democrats said the same.
Additionally, the survey found that 83% of all Americans said that the US military should remain politically neutral. Among Republicans 78% agreed with the sentiment, 93% of Democrats said the same and 80% of respondents with other political affiliations agreed as well.
Last month, Trump faced widespread backlash from Democratic lawmakers after he suggested the US military use American cities as training grounds.
Addressing a room of more than 800 military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, Trump said: “Last month I signed an executive order to provide training for quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control.”
He added that he told the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
On Wednesday, Trump called for the jailing of Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, as armed national guard troops arrive in the Chicago area under Trump’s orders.
Both leaders, whom Trump has accused of failing to protect Ice officers amid their immigration raids, have refused to budge. Johnson said: “I’m not going anywhere,” while Pritzker said: “I will not back down.”
A federal judge on Saturday blocked the Trump administration from sending national guard troops to Portland, Oregon. The judge’s decision came after Trump threatened to authorize “full force, if necessary” in the heavily liberal city which he has claimed to be “war-ravaged”.
