What do Americans think about the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro? What role should the U.S. have in deciding how the country is governed? The Washington Post texted 1,004 Americans January 3rd-4th to ask.

The Post poll finds Americans are almost evenly split between approval and disapproval of the U.S. sending forces to capture Maduro, though most say the operation should have required congressional approval. The public is also skeptical about the U.S. taking control of Venezuela’s government or deciding its leadership.

This Washington Post poll was conducted by text message on Jan. 3-4, 2026, among a random national sample of 1,004 U.S. adults from the SSRS Opinion Panel, an ongoing survey panel recruited through random sampling of U.S. households. The sample was weighted to match U.S. population demographics, partisanship and 2024 vote choice. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.