Does Jared Read Polls
CTH quotes the NYT today:
The basic idea is simply this. A foreign intel service collected a conversation between two foreign nationals—non-Americans. The conversation revolved around the question of whom one should talk to in the Trump regime if you wanted to influence US policy on Iran. The correct answer, of course, was: Jared Kushner. The problem for Tulsi was that, even with the Kushner’s name “minimized” (redacted) it was easy to surmise that that’s whose name was mentioned. Tulsi acted to restrict access to the intercept of the conversation, apparently on the grounds that even a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
So that’s pretty much where we are as a nation. A small “cabal”—that’s a technical term—controls all policy that is of interest to that cabal. That happens to touch and a wide array of policy issues. And that leads to the question of whether Jared pays attention to polling. My guess is that he does, and that that’s what gave Trump the necessary support to face down Netanyahu. What polling? This polling:
Trump hasn’t bombed Iran yet. He must be reading these polls.
American public opinion is largely against a new war with Tehran. If that isn’t staying the president’s hand, it should.
When the George W. Bush administration invaded Iraq in March 2003, that war had 72% support among Americans, according to Gallup.
Notably, of course, while Dubya did lie us into that war, he did—by hook and by crook—get domestic and international authorization for the war that Jewish Nationalists were demanding. Trump has neither.
If Donald Trump now wants to start a U.S. war with Iran, the president would not remotely enjoy that level of support. He doesn’t even have half of it. Scratch that, not even a quarter of Americans want him to bomb Iran today.
A SSRS/University of Maryland poll asked participants earlier this month: “Do you favor or oppose the United States initiating an attack on Iran under the current circumstances?” Only 21% favored, 49% opposed, and 30% answered “I don’t know.”
Republicans were the most favorable toward war with [only] 40%, but 25% of GOP voters said they oppose it, and 35% answered “I don’t know.” So there is not even a consensus in Trump’s own party. It’s split. Only 6% of Democrats favor an attack on Tehran at this time. 21% of independents favored intervention.
As I continue to remind, Independents are the largest component of the US electorate. That level of non-support for a war is catastrophic.
The survey, which was taken between February 5-9 is not a one-off, however. An Economist/YouGov poll taken the week before revealed that between January 30 and February 2, 48% to 28% of Americans oppose rather than support the U.S. taking military action in Iran.
This was after the Iranian government was cracking down on protesters, and a chorus of war proponents here in the United States were demanding that Washington intervene militarily to protect them. When poll respondents were asked if they supported or opposed the U.S. bombing Iran over its treatment of protesters, that number rose four points to 52% opposing, with 25% supporting and 23% “not sure.”
A Quinnipiac University survey taken two weeks before the Economist/YouGov poll also asked if the U.S. should intervene to protect protesters in Iran. This poll was taken a week after Trump said that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” if Iran killed peaceful protesters. Between January 8 and 12, 70% believed the U.S. should not become involved in Iran, 18% favored U.S. intervention, and 12% had “no opinion.”
Let’s jump back even further, after Trump ordered strikes on Iran in late June. At the time David Vine reported on Responsible Statecraft that “polling both before and immediately after Trump launched attacks on Iran showed broad opposition to U.S. involvement in Israel’s unprovoked war including among Trump’s base. Most strikingly, 85% of people surveyed nationwide said they don’t want the U.S. to be at war with Iran, while only 5% do, according to YouGov polling conducted in the wake of the bombing.”
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This is why the Epstein file revelations are so important. They provide an inside look at the cabal—its interests, its habits.
Hopefully all Americans will come to hate the Empire which despoils the world in our name. We need to close military bases, severely reduce military spending and burn the CIA to the ground and pile salt on top.
When the GWBush administration invaded Iraq in March 2003, that war had 72% support among Americans...because the nation was told that the bad guys that hit the US hard on 9/11/01 were working in/out of Iraq. The nation wanted to 'get 'em!' for killing all of the innocents on our soil.
This current attack bluster threat against Iran has miniscule support from Americans because there is no valid reason. Also, more folks are seeing DJT for what he is--->a bad apple.