The killing of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani has marked a serious escalation in terms of conflict in The Middle East. It has exposed many serious divisions within the pro-Trump movement but has seen his core support rally round him.
According to highly respected international journal Foreign Policy the most recent poll showed what people think:
For a president who professes aversion to wars in the Middle East, in ordering the killing of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, U.S. President Donald Trump may have made an already slippery slope toward military conflict with Iran much more slippery. To be sure, it is easy for Trump to point out to the U.S. public that Suleimani had much American blood on his hands, but that still doesn’t mean that the public believes that it is in the best interest of their country to go to war.
A September 2019 University of Maryland poll of a nationally representative sample of 3,016 respondents shows the trouble Trump faces with U.S. public opinion as the crisis with Iran escalates. There are three main takeaways: Three-quarters of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, say that war with Iran would be unwarranted; the public mostly blames the Trump administration for heightened tensions with Iran and disapproves of Trump’s Iran policy; and Americans are deeply divided in assessing Trump’s goals in Iran.
Overwhelmingly, the U.S. public does not believe that U.S. interests warrant war with Iran. Only about one-fifth of respondents say that their country “should be prepared to go to war” to achieve its goals with Iran, while three-quarters say that U.S. goals do not warrant it. Among Republicans, only 34 percent say that war should be on the table to protect U.S. interests.
This polling suggests that an escalation between the United States and Iran that follows the killing of Suleimani will test Trump’s approval among the U.S. public. Of course, the president has demonstrated a superior ability to control the narrative, especially among his supporters. He’ll surely be able to encourage some rallying around the flag. But the public’s weariness of war is real—as are the costs in American blood that conflict with Iran would entail—and Trump’s early actions in withdrawing from the Iran deal and tightening sanctions on Iran are seen by both Democrats and Republicans to be the real culprit in poor relations between the two countries. And the more Trump’s policies are seen as dragging the United States toward confrontation with Iran, the more public opposition he’ll face.
Opinion- I will be discussing this with Carl Pearson on tonight’s show. I am deeply concerned with how events are unfolding in the Middle East and concerned about the impact any conflict could have. Have we not learned from Iraq, Libya & Syria? Do we want potentially MILLIONS of refugees coming to Europe? Please join us from 19:00 to discuss this in full on YouTube.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
Keep up to date with all of David & UN’s work by linking up with us on our Social Media Channels by Clicking Here Now: https://unitynewsnetwork.co.uk/our-social-media-links/
