80 percent of Mexicans Still Support Military Crackdown on Drug Cartels

A new survey from Mexico finds that eight of ten Mexicans support the military crackdown against drug traffickers which was launched in 2006.

The poll released by the Pew Research Center released the poll’s findings on Wednesday that 80 percent of those questioned in the poll support the Mexican Army’s campaign against the cartels.

Most of the respondents are worried about government forces violating human rights with 74 percent telling Pew that it was a huge problem.

47,000 people have been killed in the drug violence throughout Mexico since the crackdown was enacted by President Felipe Calderon.

In spite of the human toll, Calderon is still relatively popular in Mexico with a 58 percent approval rating with his term coming to an end later next month following the July 1 general elections.

The survey by the Washington-based center is based on face-to-face interviews with 1,200 Mexicans from across the country between March 20 and April 2. The error rate is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.