A poll from Rasmussen Reports set to be released Monday and conducted June 17-19 revealed a plurality of Americans had favored a U.S. air or naval strike on Iran to destroy its nuclear program — but not the use of ground forces.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday evening that, on his orders, the U.S. Air Force had conducted airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the Fordow nuclear site, deep underneath a mountain.
Polling data had varied in the past several weeks, often depending on how polling questions are asked. Rasmussen broke responses down into specific types of attack.
Among 1,097 likely voters, 48% approved of a (potential) U.S. airstrike on Iran, while 40% disapproved. Support was similar for a naval strike (49% for to 42% against). However, likely voters disapproved of the U.S. using ground troops in the war (33% support; 58% against).
Polling data shared exclusively with Breitbart News revealed the following answers to questions about Iran:
- Last week, Israel attacked Iran, specifically targeting the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Do you approve or disapprove of Israel’s attack on Iran? (Strongly approve 36%; somewhat approve 18%; somewhat disapprove 14%; strongly disapprove 21%; Not sure 11%)
- Who is most likely to win the war between Israel and Iran? (Israel is most likely to win 44%; Iran is most likely to win 11%; The war is most likely to become a stalemate 25%; Not sure 20%)
- Would you support or oppose the United States using its Air Force to support Israel in the war against Iran? (Strongly approve 28%; somewhat approve 20%; somewhat disapprove 15%; strongly disapprove 25%; Not sure 11%)
- Would you support or oppose the United States using its Navy to support Israel in the war against Iran? (Strongly approve 28%; somewhat approve 21%; somewhat disapprove 18%; strongly disapprove 24%; Not sure 10%)
- Would you support or oppose the United States using ground troops to support Israel in the war against Iran? (Strongly approve 14%; somewhat approve 19%; somewhat disapprove 20%; strongly disapprove 38%; Not sure 10%)
The margin of error in the poll was 3% within a 95% confidence interval.
Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen Reports spoke with Breitbart News exclusively on Saturday and noted that Democrats were less supportive of Israel than Republicans.
In fact, Democrats opposed Israel’s attack on Iran (37% for, 49% against), even though they also believed Israel would win the war. They also opposed the U.S. becoming involved in any way — by air, sea, or land.
Democrats were also less supportive of U.S. “boots on the ground” to help Israel than they were to help other nations, such as Ukraine or Taiwan, Mitchell said.
Though Republicans opposed using ground troops to support Israel, they did so by a much closer margin (44% for, 47% against, within the margin of error) than Democrats (28% for, 60% against).
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
