Majority support drone attacks abroad

PRINCETON, N.J., March 25 (UPI) -- Most Americans said the U.S. government should use drone airstrikes against suspected terrorists in other countries, Gallup reported Monday.

Sixty-five percent of Americans said they think the U.S. government should use drones to launch airstrikes in other countries against suspected terrorists, results released Monday indicated. Twenty-five percent said drone airstrikes should be used in the United States against suspected terrorists.

Forty-one percent said drones should be used against U.S. citizens living abroad who are suspected terrorists while 13 percent said drone airstrikes should be used in the United States against U.S. citizens living here who are suspected terrorists.

The findings were from Gallup Daily tracking conducted several weeks after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., held a 13-hour filibuster of President Obama's nominee to lead the CIA. Attorney General Eric Holder responded after the filibuster ended that the president does not have the authority to use a drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on U.S. soil.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,020 adults conducted Wednesday and Thursday on the Gallup Daily tracking survey. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.