Gallup Survey Reveals Majority Believe US is Falling Behind in War on Drugs; Significant Political Divide Noted

In a new Gallup survey, over half of Americans believe the U.S. is not winning the war on illegal drugs.

Released Friday, the survey revealed 52% of respondents think the U.S. is losing the battle against drugs. This sentiment is a first since Gallup began polling this topic in 1972.

A record-low 24% of participants perceive progress in the fight against drugs, while 23% believe the conditions remained static.

This marks a shift from 2019 Gallup polling, where 41% believed progress was being made, while 30% viewed the situation as deteriorating.

Gallup ties this shift to rising drug overdose fatalities, mainly linked to Fentanyl. The synthetic drug crisis was a major talking point in the recent Republican presidential debate.

The polling analysis highlighted public pessimism, “With a surge in U.S. adults falling victim to drug overdoses, Americans generally perceive little progress in resolving the national illegal drug problem.”

Republicans particularly feel the drug battle is moving in the wrong direction. Gallup’s poll found that 75% of Republican respondents believe the U.S. is failing in its drug fight.

In contrast, 40% of Democrat respondents see improvements, while 27% think the situation is worsening.

Fifty-two percent of independents see the drug problem deteriorating, compared to 22% who believe improvement is occurring.

The survey, conducted from Oct 2-23, received responses from 1,009 U.S. adults. The sampling error margin is plus or minus four percentage points at the 95% confidence level.