Most Americans don’t want troops deployed without an external threat, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

WASHINGTON - Some 58 per cent of Americans – including seven in 10 Democrats and half of Republicans – think the president should send armed troops only to face external threats, a sign of unease as US President Donald Trump increasingly deploys National Guard troops to police American cities, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The poll, which ran from Oct 3 to 7, also showed the Republican President’s approval rating ticking down to 40 per cent – 1 percentage point lower than in a late September poll, with his rating slipping on his handling of crime and the cost of living for US households.

The poll was conducted in the days after Mr Trump told an unusual meeting of hundreds of generals and admirals summoned from around the world to Virginia that the US faces an “enemy within”, and as he deploys armed troops to patrol a growing number of Democratic-led cities, including Washington and Los Angeles.

Democratic leaders say the deployments are politically motivated and have challenged the troop movements in court. Mr Trump on Oct 6 threatened to invoke an 18th-century anti-insurrection law to sidestep any court rulings restricting his orders to send Guard troops into cities over the objections of local and state officials.

Some 37 per cent of poll respondents said they agreed with a statement that presidents of either political party should have the power to deploy troops into states even when state governors object, compared with 48 per cent who disagreed.

Mr Trump has also deployed troops along the US border, arguing that the country is being invaded by criminal immigrants, and has ordered troops to kill suspected drug traffickers on boats off Venezuela without due process.

Before his address to top military leaders last week, Mr Trump warned that he would fire those he did not like – comments Democrats criticised as an attempt to pressure the military into taking his side in political debates.

Politically neutral military preferred

The US military traditionally keeps itself far removed from political discussions, and the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans prefer that approach.

Some 83 per cent of respondents said the military “should remain politically neutral and not take a side in domestic policy debates”, while 10 per cent said the armed forces should start taking sides and support the president’s domestic policy agenda. About one in five Republicans said the military should take the president’s side in political debates.

Mr Trump’s approval rating on crime fell in the latest poll to 41 per cent from 43 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Sept 5 to 9.

His overall approval has fallen 7 percentage points since a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the hours following his Jan 20 inauguration showed him with a 47 per cent approval rating.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online, surveyed 1,154 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. REUTERS