These data are from Gallup Daily tracking conducted March 20-21, a few weeks after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., held a 13-hour filibuster of President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the CIA. Sen. Paul pledged to speak until the administration clarified whether the government could conduct a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on domestic soil. 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.

The survey results suggest that a majority of Americans would agree with previous U.S. drone attacks that have killed suspected terrorists living in other countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. However, the data indicate that less than a majority of Americans would have in principle supported the drone attack in the fall of 2011 against American citizens who were suspected terrorists living in Yemen. And the results show that substantial majorities of Americans are opposed to drone airstrikes “in the U.S.,” regardless of whether they are against U.S. citizens.