A new Zogby Analytics nationwide survey of 866 likely voters, with a margin of error of +/-3.3%, conducted 10/30/18-10/31/18, shows a majority (57%) of Americans support the military's decision to send thousands of troops to the border to prevent a migrant caravan, numbered in the thousands, from entering the U.S. illegally. More than two in five disagree with the military deployment to the border.
Support for the military deployment to the border was pretty widespread demographically. Majorities of voters in the east, south, and central regions (56-62% agree/38-44% disagree) supported the deployment of troops. The only region where there was a majority who disagreed was in the west (51% disagree/49% agree).
As for environs, majorities of likely voters in large cities (55% agreed/46% disagreed), small cities (67% disagree/34% agree), suburbs (56% disagree/44% agree), and rural communities (57% disagree/44% agree) agree with the deployment of troops to prevent a large caravan of migrants from entering the U.S.
Among political parties, Democrats were most likely to disagree (69%), but 31% of Democrats did agree with sending troops to the U.S. - Mexico border. Republicans overwhelmingly support (91%) sending the military to the border. Independents were also in support of sending the military (53%), while 47% disagreed. Men were much more supportive--43% strongly agreed, and 66% agreed overall (strongly and somewhat agree combined). Women were split 50/50 on the deployment of troops.
There was also an inverse relationship with the age of voters: the older the voters, the more likely they were to agree with military deployment. Millennials age 18-29 were more likely to disagree with military deployment-57% disagree/43% agree. Older voters age 65+ were most likely to strongly agree (51%) and 69% agree overall, while 31% disagree.
Ethnicity was another area where there was more agreement than expected. A majority of African Americans disagree (59%) compared to 41% who agree. Interestingly, 51% of Hispanic respondents agree with the deployment of troops to the border to halt the migrant caravan; slightly less than half (49%) disagree. Also, 30% of Hispanics strongly agree compared to 28% who strongly disagree. It must also be noted that the sample of Hispanic respondents carries a larger margin of error (+/-10%), but nonetheless, the numbers do represent a significant finding.