Americans Believe U.S. Isn't Winning the War on Drugs

Americans overwhelmingly believe that the U.S. is failing to win the so-called war on drugs, but a new poll of likely American voters show they are much more divided on how much the U.S. should be spending on it.

The new Rasmussen Reports poll showed only 4 percent of likely voters believe the U.S. is winning the war on drugs, while a whopping 82 percent disagree. Only 13 percent of voters are undecided.

Americans are nearly split on whether the U.S. is spending too much or too little on the war on drugs. Thirty-six percent believe the U.S. spends too much on the war on drugs, while 25 percent believe it's spending too little. Nineteen percent say the amount of spending is just right.

This week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new plan to decrease the number of strict minimum prison sentences for nonviolent low-level drug offenders, and just over half of Americans are on board with Holder's proposal.One reason for this support is the fact that 55 percent of Americans believe there are too many Americans in prison today.

The national survey of 1,000 adults was conducted Aug. 12-13. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.