Poll: 54% of Americans back campaign against Iran

Nearly 80% of Republicans and a third of Democrats say they approve of President Donald Trump’s decision to use military force against Iran.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A poll taken following the launch of Operation Epic Fury found that a majority of likely American voters support President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran on Saturday.

The poll was conducted by the InsiderAdvantage polling firm on Saturday, beginning hours after the Israeli Air Force and US military began striking the Iranian regime.

A total of 800 likely voters were surveyed for the poll, which was published on Sunday.

Just over half (54.3%) of respondents said they approved of Trump’s decision to “use military air and naval resources to disable the leadership of Iran and disable their potential effort to rebuild their nuclear efforts and their ballistic weapons.”

By contrast, 37.1% disapproved of the president’s decision, with 8.6% expressing no opinion.

Young voters were more likely to approve of Trump’s decision than older voters, with 56.3% of voters under 40 backing the move, compared with 55.1% of voters ages 40 to 64, and just 49.5% of voters 65 and over.

Nearly four-fifths (79.3%) of self-described Republicans, 32.1% of Democrats, and 45.3% of independents approved of the decision to strike Iran, while 12.0% of Republicans, 62.5% of Democrats, and 40.3% of independents disapproved.

Men were more likely to approve than women, by a margin of 62.2% to 46.6%, with non-Hispanic whites (58.2%) and Hispanic voters (52.1%) more likely than African Americans (46.9%) and those in the other category (38.7%) to back the US strikes on Iran.

InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery warned that the initial high level of support for the strikes is likely to fall if the conflict is not terminated quickly.

“While initial support is extremely strong, it is my opinion that a prolonged conflict, particularly if it involves boots on the ground, could lead to a significant deterioration of this support. But at the moment support is extremely high for the initial effort.”

Other polls have shown significantly lower levels of support.

A SSRS text message-based poll conducted for CNN on Saturday and Sunday and published on Monday found that just 41% of respondents backed US strikes on Iran, with 59% disapproving of the move.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 43% of respondents disapproved of the strikes, with just 27% approving of the attacks, while 30% were unsure.

Bothpolls were conducted among American adults without screening for likely voters or registered voters.