Liberal news outlets are trumpeting polls that purport to show widespread opposition to our air strikes on Iran. Meanwhile, renegade former conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are attacking the administration over the conflict, which they blame on Israel and the Jews. Is MAGA really splintering over Iran?
Seemingly not, at least not so far. CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, looks at multiple polls dating from last week, and finds that President Trump is more popular with his own party than any other 21st century president at this point in his second term:
“Bush was at 77 percent, Obama was at 77 percent. Look at this: 86 percent of Republicans approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing at this point. That is higher than either Obama or Bush had within their own party at this point,” Enten said.
Same with strong approval, where Trump is at 53% among Republicans, compared with Bush’s 47% and Obama’s 48%. So the conflict in Iran hasn’t begun to dent Trump’s standing with his base, as of the early stage of the war.
What about Iran specifically? A Vandenberg/TargetPoint poll taken between March 3 and March 5 finds Republicans overwhelming supporting the Iran attack, which they say makes America safer.
Eighty-three percent of those who identify with the MAGA movement believe U.S.-Israeli strikes in the first few days of Operation Epic Fury have made the United States safer, the poll shows. On a wider scale, 92 percent of MAGA respondents said they agree with the statement that “President Trump’s use of force against Iran will help deter future attacks from our adversaries.”
Even 74% of libertarians, the least positive of the four Republican groups sampled, approve of the Iran strikes.
Obviously, Republican support could wane if the conflict drags on or American casualties mount. But that isn’t going to happen. This is significant, too:
The Vandenberg-TargetPoint poll also includes a question about the military partnership between the United States and Israel. Ninety-three percent of self-described “MAGA or Trump Conservatives” reported supporting that alliance, while 80 percent of all Trump voters between the ages of 18 and 29 surveyed said the same.
My conclusion is that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens may have a lot of followers on social media, but they don’t have a lot of influence within the conservative movement or the Republican Party.
