Just 30% of U.S. voters say drug users in the United States are more to blame for growing drug violence in Mexico than the drug producers themselves.

Fifty-six percent (56%) say the Mexican drug producers are more to blame for the tide of violence that threatens to cross into the United States, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters say restricting gun sales in the United States will not reduce drug-related violence in Mexico, but 20% take the opposite view.

During a visit to Mexico City on Thursday, President Obama listed both U.S. drug use and gun sales as factors in Mexico’s surging criminal problem. “The demand for these drugs in the United States is what’s helping to keep these (Mexican drug) cartels in business,” he said. “Ninety percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States.” The president hopes to limit those sales.

One-third of voters (33%) describe Mexico as an ally of the United States, while just eight percent (8%) view the southern neighbor as an enemy. Fifty-six percent (56%) say Mexico is somewhere in between an ally and an enemy.

The survey was taken on Wednesday and Thursday nights, April 15 and 16, 2009.

There is little partisan disagreement over who is largely to blame for Mexico’s drug violence. But while 81% of Republicans and 78% of voters not affiliated with either party do not think restricting gun sales will reduce the violence, just 58% of Democrats agree.

Only 28% of all voters believe that the legalization of marijuana in the United States would help to reduce drug-related violence in Mexico. Fifty-four percent (54%) say pot legalization would not help.

Most GOP voters (63%) and unaffiliateds (60%) don’t think legalizing marijuana would help the situation. Democrats are more evenly divided.

Forty percent (40%) of Americans now say marijuana should be legalized, but 46% are opposed to such a move.

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Violence has exploded in Mexico in recent months as the country attempts to crack down on the powerful illegal drug cartels. Voters are now more concerned about that violence spilling over into the United States than they are about illegal immigration, a trend Rasmussen Reports first noted in January.

Seventy-nine percent (79%) say the U.S. military should be used along the border with Mexico to protect American citizens if drug-related violence continues to grow in that area.

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of voters now say they are following news stories about growing drug-related violence in Mexico at least somewhat closely. Twenty percent (20%) say they are not following very closely or not at all.

U.S. voters don’t see immigration reform as a top priority compared to deficit reduction, health care reform and other issues.

However, 66% say it is Very Important for the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration. On this issue, there is a wide gap between Mainstream America and the Political Class.

Most voters like the tough tactics to fight illegal immigration used by an Arizona sheriff who is now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for possible civil rights violations.

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