Opinion on Iran strikes is more about Trump than 'forever wars'
The old specter of Iraq still looms large, but public opinion has fundamentally changed in 22 years.
Last Saturday’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities already seem far in the past, but the public opinion trends are still worth looking at. It’s not like Iran’s nuclear program will never come up again…
For my National Journal column this week, I looked at opinion on the strikes as well as comparing the 2025 situation in Iran to the 2002-2003 situation in Iraq. There are some similarities in that the main issue is weapons of mass destruction, but that’s basically where the comparison ends. The Iraq war was popular before it started, yes, but nothing Trump does will ever be popular. As I’ve written in recent weeks, he has a clear floor of support and a ceiling of support. We’re a lot more polarized than we were in 2002, particularly due to the unification effect of 9/11.
The interesting tidbit hidden in here is that Republicans have an age divide in their views on Iran. Those who came of age and became Republicans during the MAGA era are less hawkish than their older counterparts.