The anti-war crowd had a narrative ready before the first bomb dropped. Trump was reckless. The operation was unprovoked. America was being dragged into another Middle East quagmire by a president who didn’t understand the consequences.
There was just one problem. They forgot to ask the American people.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,098 likely voters — conducted March 8 through 10 — found that 61% of Americans believe the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran has been successful. Thirty-five percent called it “very successful.” Only 29% said the operation was not successful, and 11% weren’t sure.
That is not a divided country. That is a country that watched Operation Epic Fury destroy 90% of Iran’s missile launchers, eliminate the Supreme Leader, and clear the most dangerous state sponsor of terrorism from the board — and said, in a clear majority: yes, that was the right call.
Republican support at 81% is expected. Trump voters at 83% — no surprise. But the number that should be printed on every Republican campaign flyer between now and November is this one: 56% of independents say the Iran operation was successful.
The voters who decide every swing district in America are not buying the media’s “reckless war” framing. They watched the same operation everyone else watched, and by a clear majority they said it worked. That is the number that moves elections. That is the number that neutralizes every Democratic attack ad built around gas prices and war anxiety.
And here is the detail that makes the independent number even stronger: of the 49% of voters who said they were following the operation “very closely” — the most informed, most engaged voters in the sample — 66% called the operation successful. The more Americans learned about what actually happened in Iran, the more they supported it.
Rasmussen also asked voters to name America’s greatest enemy. Twenty-five percent said China. Sixteen percent said Russia. Nine percent named Iran.
And 16% of voters named Republican voters as America’s greatest enemy.
More Americans — including, overwhelmingly, Democratic voters — identified their fellow citizens who vote Republican as a greater threat to this country than the regime that was actively funding terrorism, building nuclear weapons, and closing the Strait of Hormuz. Sixteen percent named Iran. Sixteen percent named the people who voted for Donald Trump.
That is not a foreign policy position. That is a party that has spent so long marinating in its own media bubble that it has lost the ability to distinguish between political opponents and national enemies. While Trump was ordering the destruction of Iran’s military machine, a sizable chunk of the Democratic base was more worried about the people in red hats at the school board meeting.
Your readers are the 16% Democrats fear most. They should wear that with pride.
Eighty-one percent of Americans are following the Iran operation closely — one of the highest sustained public attention numbers for any foreign policy event in recent memory. That means the outcome of this operation will be one of the most remembered and most evaluated foreign policy decisions heading into the midterms.
If the Strait reopens, gas prices fall, and Iran’s new government remains the defanged, IRGC-controlled shell it currently appears to be — the 61% success number grows. The operation becomes a legacy-defining win that every Republican candidate in every competitive district can point to as proof that strength works.
The media ran wall-to-wall coverage of burning tankers and school bombing investigations. The American public watched the same footage and called it a success anyway.
Sixty-one percent. Fifty-six percent of independents. The poll is in. The verdict is clear. Make sure every voter in your life hears both numbers before November.
