By LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — There are few signs that President Donald Trump’s supporters wanted the United States to become more embroiled in foreign conflicts ahead of its military actions in Venezuela — even as many Republicans show initial support for his military strike there, according to an Associated Press analysis of recent polling.

Most Americans wanted the U.S. government to focus in 2026 on domestic issues, such as health care and high costs, rather than foreign policy issues, an AP-NORC poll conducted last month found. Meanwhile, polling conducted in the immediate aftermath of the military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suggested that many Americans are unconvinced that the U.S. should step in to take control of the country.

And despite Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. may take a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere, Republicans in polling last fall remained broadly opposed to the U.S. getting more involved in other countries’ problems.

There’s still room for public opinion to shift as Trump’s administration clarifies its next steps for Venezuela. But it could be a challenging issue for the Republican president, particularly given Americans’ desire for the government to fix economic issues at home.

Foreign policy and drug trade weren’t high priorities for many Americans

Heading into the new year, Americans were less likely to want the government to focus on foreign policy than they had been in recent years.

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About one-quarter of U.S. adults listed foreign policy topics — such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Israel or general involvement overseas — as something they wanted the government to prioritize in 2026, according to an open-ended AP-NORC question that asked respondents to share up to five issues they wanted the government to work on in the coming year. That was down from the prior two years, when roughly one-third of Americans considered foreign issues an important focus. Almost no one specifically named Venezuela.

Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges on Monday in New York. His capture followed U.S. strikes on boats that the Trump administration said were carrying drugs from Venezuela to the U.S. Despite the Trump administration’s focus on the issue of drug trafficking, it doesn’t register at the top of Americans’ lists of issues for the government to focus on. Few Americans mentioned drug-related issues as a priority, and it was primarily a Republican issue. About 1 in 10 Republicans mentioned it, compared with hardly any Democrats or independents.

Instead, Americans overall were more focused on domestic issues — including health care, economic worries and cost-of-living concerns — as top priorities for the government.

More Americans say the US should not run Venezuela

Americans are split about the U.S. capturing Maduro — with many still forming opinions — according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and SSRS using text messages over the weekend. About 4 in 10 approved of the U.S. military being sent to capture Maduro, while roughly the same share were opposed. About 2 in 10 were unsure. Republicans broadly approved of the action, while Democrats were largely opposed to it.

Nearly half of Americans, 45%, were opposed to the U.S. taking control of Venezuela and choosing a new government for the country. About 9 in 10 Americans said that the Venezuelan people should be the ones to decide the future leadership of their country.

In December, a Quinnipiac poll found that about 6 in 10 registered voters opposed U.S. military action in Venezuela. Republicans were more divided: About half were in support, while about one-third were opposed and 15% didn’t have an opinion.

Few Republicans wanted the US more involved in the world’s problems

Only about 1 in 10 Republicans wanted the U.S. to take a “more active role” role in solving the world’s problems, according to an AP-NORC poll from September. They were much less likely than Americans overall, or Democrats and independents, to say the U.S. should become more involved. Most Republicans, 55%, said the current U.S. role in global issues was “about right.”

It could be a tricky position for a president who ran on a promise of putting “America first” and ending the country’s involvement in “forever wars.” About 7 in 10 voters who backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election said that they wanted the U.S. to take a “less active” role in solving the world’s problems, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of interviews with registered voters in all 50 states.

In December, Americans were largely divided on whether Trump was keeping his “America First” campaign promise, according to a Fox News poll. About half felt he was keeping that promise, and a similar share felt he had abandoned it.

But at least in that poll, which was conducted before the military operation that removed Maduro, Trump’s supporters still were largely behind him: About 1 in 10 Americans who voted for Trump in 2024 felt he had deserted the “America First” promise, while the overwhelming majority felt he had kept it.

By CLAUDIA LAUER, Associated Press

Deaths of on-duty law enforcement officers in the U.S. decreased by nearly 25% in 2025, according to an annual report.

FILE – Linda Shields leaves flowers in front of the West York Police Department after a police officer was killed responding to a shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa. on Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, shared with The Associated Press ahead of its release Tuesday, shows a drop in all categories of fatalities, from 148 total deaths in 2024 to 111 last year.

Officer firearm fatalities dropped to 44, a 15% decrease from 52 in 2024 and the lowest number in at least a decade, according to the Fund’s previous annual officer fatality reports.

“I always like to see that firearms deaths are down. They are the tip of the spear for egregious acts,” said Bill Alexander, the chief executive officer of the Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that works to memorialize fallen officers, educate the public about the profession and improve officer safety.

Traffic-related deaths also decreased nearly 23% between 2024 and 2025, including both fatal traffic accidents and officers killed after being struck by a vehicle — usually during traffic stops.

“Even one officer fatality is too many, and our ultimate goal is to have none. But we’re heartened by any decrease in those numbers,” Alexander said.

Alexander said the reduction in traffic-related officer deaths likely can be attributed to an increase in the national conversation around officer safety on the road. More states around the country have passed “move-over” laws requiring drivers to move out of the lane closest to traffic stops or accidents while passing them. There have been increased efforts to direct officers to approach the passenger side of cars during traffic stops, removing them from travel lanes, Alexander said.

The reason behind the decrease in firearm fatalities is harder to define. While many departments have offered increased safety training and have better equipment for firearm injuries, Alexander said luck and other unquantifiable factors also play a role.

“Some of it could come down to an officer being shot close to a hospital or maybe the officers had a tactical emergency kit or better blood stopping equipment,” he said.

Fewer fatalities also doesn’t mean fewer instances of officers being shot or being shot at, he said.

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The National Fraternal Order of Police tracks the number of officer shootings, both fatal and non-fatal. That report does not include incidents where officers were shot at and not struck by gunfire.

The 2025 FOP report, released this week, showed there was a small increase in officers shot while on-duty last year — increasing from 342 in 2024 to 347 in 2025.

Among the high-profile shooting deaths in 2025 was Andrew Duarte, a West York Borough Police Department officer who was shot and killed in February while responding to a man who had taken several people hostage in a York, Pennsylvania hospital. And law enforcement officers from around the country attended funeral services Monday for Delaware State Trooper Matthew “Ty” Snook, who was shot and killed while he was working an overtime shift at a DMV office on Dec. 23, after pushing a DMV employee out of the way of the gunman.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s fatality report also showed no on-duty officer fatalities in 17 states and Washington D.C., and none at the nation’s federal and tribal law enforcement agencies last year.

It also showed a 37% drop in the “other” fatalities category that includes physical or medical issues from on-duty incidents and most other fatalities like stabbings, drownings or plane crashes. The number dropped from 52 in 2024 to 33 in 2025, and includes 14 officers who died last year from illnesses related to responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Previous annual reports included COVID-19 deaths, which increased fatality numbers significantly in 2020 and 2021, but Alexander said COVID deaths have not been included as on-duty fatalities in the last two years. The report also does not include officers who committed suicide, though Alexander said the group is having conversations about how to honor and include those officers.

BERLIN (AP) — Several European leaders pushed back Tuesday on U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments seeking an American takeover of Greenland.

The leaders issued a statement reaffirming the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island “belongs to its people.”

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of Trump’s comments about Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark and thus part of the NATO military alliance.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said Monday that Greenland should be part of the United States in spite of a warning by Frederiksen that a U.S. takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO.

“The president has been clear for months now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland as part of our overall security apparatus,” Miller said during an interview with CNN Monday afternoon.

His comments came after the Danish leader, together with Greenland’s prime minister and other European leaders, firmly rejected Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under U.S. control in the aftermath of the weekend U.S. military operation in Venezuela.

Trump has argued the U.S. needs to control Greenland to ensure the security of the NATO territory in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.

“It’s so strategic right now,” he told reporters Sunday.

“Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.

Miller wondered during his interview Monday whether Denmark can assert control over Greenland.

“What is the basis of their territorial claim,” Miller said. “What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?”

However, it was not necessary to consider whether the U.S. administration was contemplating an armed intervention, he said.

“There is no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you are asking, of a military operation. Nobody is going to fight the U.S. militarily over the future of Greenland,” he said.

I’m going to say something and then I’m going to duck: Being a member of Congress is a taxing profession that doesn’t pay nearly enough based on the expectations and pressures of the job. It’s no wonder Democrats and Republicans are fleeing Capitol Hill in droves.

I ducked because Congress — the House of Representatives and the US Senate, collectively — has a rather miserable average job approval rating of 23.7%, with a whopping 66.3% disapproving. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you don’t think too highly of either representatives or senators. Which means you’re probably not persuaded that a $174,000 annual base salary (top leaders earn a bit more) is inadequate, to say the least. That’s fine; that’s usually the reaction I get. I’m used to it.

But consider what it takes to do the job right.

Unless a member represents a district or state proximal to Washington, he or she is away from home and family for three to five days per week, every week, except when Congress is in recess. But hey, at least these dopes get a periodic recess, right? Especially the extended four-to-six-week August recess that Congress takes every summer. I mean, my job doesn’t give me any recess. Thanks to my smartphone, I’m lucky if I get to unplug on weekends.

Except the term “recess” is deceiving.

When members of Congress are on a so-called recess, they’re not actually on vacation. They’re working. But instead of participating in committee hearings or voting on legislation on Capitol Hill, they’re traveling their district, or state, holding meetings with local elected officials, business owners, constituent groups, labor leaders — you name it — to take stock of what communities need and what voters want from Washington. It’s work they sought out and campaigned for, but it’s still work.

I know because for more than 20 years, it’s been during these congressional “recesses” that I’ve hit the road to cover representatives and senators on their home turf to figure out what their reelection prospects are in the next election.

Oh, and about the compensation package: $174,000 is before taxes; no housing or per diem stipend for a second residence in Washington, which is why so many members of modest means choose to live in their offices (former Speaker Paul Ryan, from Janesville, Wisconsin, did so for most, if not all, of his 20 years in the House). Although, yes, the costs of traveling to and from Washington every week are reimbursable.

Which gets us to the exodus underway as the 2026 midterm elections approach.

Of the 57 members on Roll Call’s Casualty List for the 119th Congress, 26 are calling it quits completely. That includes 15 Democrats, who are leaving despite their party’s increasing odds of recapturing the House next November. Another 27 members (Democrats and Republicans) are retiring to seek another office. Granted, some are ditching the House to run for Senate. But 13 of the members in this category are running for state office. In other words, they’re not fed up with politics or elected office, just Congress.

An additional four members couldn’t exit the building fast enough.

Rather than serve out their term, they chose to resign before it expires at the end of next year. That includes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, whose planned resignation takes effect Jan. 5. And don’t be surprised if there are more retirements, and possibly resignations, announced in the coming weeks. Members traditionally spend the holiday season reassessing their personal and professional lives and conclude, essentially, that Congress can “take this job and shove it.”

Here’s part of what Greene had to say about why she is leaving early: “Almost one year into our majority, the legislature has been mostly sidelined, we endured an 8 week shutdown wrongly resulting in the House not working for the entire time, and we are entering campaign season which means all courage leaves and only safe campaign reelection mode is turned on.”

Whatever your opinion of the controversial Greene, her frustration is felt by many lawmakers, Democrat and Republican. It’s a leading motivation for their decision to seek professional opportunities elsewhere. Consider the case of Rep. Jared Golden, who is retiring at the end of 2026 after just four terms. The Maine Democrat, a former Marine, has always conducted himself with decorum and seriousness. Pay close attention to what he had to say about the personal cost of serving in Congress, especially in an era of extreme political polarization.

From Golden’s op-ed: “I have grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves. … Additionally, recent incidents of political violence have made me reassess the frequent threats against me and my family … including all of us sitting in a hotel room on Thanksgiving last year after yet another threat against our home. … As my oldest daughter reaches school age, the threats, the intolerance and hate that often dominate political culture, and my long absences, will be more keenly felt. As a father, I have to consider whether the good I can achieve outweighs everything my family endures as a result.”

Fixing a political environment that causes elected officials to fear for their safety and for their families’ lives is a conundrum. But there is one tool members of Congress have at the ready that could improve their quality of life on the job: It’s called Article I of the Constitution.

There’s a false cliché that we have three, coequal branches of government. Not true. Congress is the Supreme Branch. Lawmakers hold immense power compared to the executive and judicial branches — if they would only exercise it.

In doing so, they might improve their day-to-day, on-the-job satisfaction. Spending all week away from their spouses, children and the comforts of home, all while forgoing a larger paycheck, might stop feeling like such a waste of time.

David M. Drucker is a columnist covering politics and policy. He is also a senior writer for The Dispatch and the author of “In Trump’s Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP.”

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