About one in four Americans, but a majority of Republicans, say they approve of the U.S. military strikes on Iran ordered by President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.
The national survey, conducted Saturday and Sunday by Reuters/Ipsos in the hours after the start of “Operation Epic Fury” by American and Israeli forces on Iran that resulted in the killing of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also indicates about half believe Trump is too willing to use military force.
Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed said they approved of the strikes, with 43% disapproving and nearly three in 10 not sure.
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But there’s a partisan divide, with Republicans by a 55%-32% margin supportive of the military action. The vast majority of Democrats, 73%, disapproved of the strikes, with only seven percent saying they approved. A plurality of independents, 44%, disapproved of the military attack, with 19% supportive and nearly four in 10 unsure.
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The poll was conducted before the U.S. military announced on Sunday the first U.S. casualties in the operation — three service members killed and five more seriously wounded.
“I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” Trump said in an interview Monday with the New York Post when asked about the new survey.
The joint U.S.-Israeli operation is expected to carry on for days, with officials telling Fox News that Israel is targeting Iranian leadership, while the U.S. is attacking military targets and ballistic missile sites that pose an “imminent threat.”
The attack has plunged the volatile Middle East into a new and unpredictable conflict. Iran has retaliated against Israel and other nations in the region. Trump on Sunday warned against Iranian retaliation, saying that if Iran were to “hit very hard,” they would be met with “a force that has never been seen before.”
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The attack on Iran follows strikes Trump has ordered in recent months against Venezuela, Syria, and Nigeria.
According to the poll, 56% of Americans think the president is too willing to use military force to advance U.S. interests. Nearly nine in 10 Democrats, six in 10 independents, and nearly a quarter of Republicans said Trump was too willing to use military force.
Trump, in his interview with the New York Post, emphasized that “it’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon.”
“I think people are very impressed with what is happening, actually,” Trump insisted. “I think it’s a silent — if you did a real poll, the silent poll — and it’s like a silent majority,” the president added.
Trump’s overall approval in the new survey stands at 39%, down a point from the previous Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-February.
