Americans Support Drone Use, but Security Fears Limit Enthusiasm
Americans narrowly support commercial and military drones, but hacking fears are tempering enthusiasm. A March 2024 survey of more than 500 U.S. adults found 55% support for commercial drone applications and 57% support for military applications. The results point to a market with public permission to grow, but not without stronger answers on safety, security and privacy.
The findings come as the global drone market is expected to surpass $101.1 billion by 2032. Military use is still expected to dominate revenue, but commercial services such as parcel delivery, remote safety inspections, environmental monitoring and emergency response are set to account for a substantial share. On military use, 59% of respondents supported passive missions such as surveying and monitoring, while 54% supported active missions involving the identification and destruction of targets.
Support varied sharply by income, gender, age and profession. Households earning more than $100,000 a year were much more likely to approve of military drones, with 72% backing passive applications and 69% backing active applications; men also showed higher support, at 63% for both categories, compared with 55% and 48% among women. Respondents under 30 and those working in education, research and healthcare were less supportive of military applications, especially active ones.
Commercial use drew a wider spread of opinion. Emergency applications received the strongest backing at 72%, while prescription medicine delivery ranked lowest at 37%; healthcare workers were the most opposed to medicine delivery by drone, with only 18% in favor and 58% opposed. Technology workers were more comfortable with drone deployment across the listed commercial categories, especially remote safety inspections, where 72% expressed support against an overall average of 58%.
Security was the leading concern. The risk that drones could be hacked or intercepted was cited most strongly by technology workers, at 76%; privacy concerns over the information drones can capture and store were cited by 54% of all respondents and 62% of those in education and research. Job loss was a smaller worry at 27%, though it rose to 38% among healthcare workers; perceived benefits were also muted, with faster delivery cited by 49%, lower cost by 38%, and fewer than one-third saying drones are better for the environment, despite analyst estimates that drone-based applications could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 2.4 gigatons by 2030. The implication is clear: drone companies seeking wider deployment must do more than solve regulation, communications and collision avoidance; they must win public trust by proving security, protecting privacy and explaining the practical benefits in daily life.