Reports of Republican fractures over President Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran have been greatly exaggerated, according to a new poll shared exclusively with The Post Thursday.
The J.L. Partners survey showed that 83% of likely Republican voters “strongly” or “somewhat” support Operation Epic Fury, while just 9% say they “strongly” or “somewhat” oppose military action against Iran.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents say the US should continue its campaign until Iran’s military capabilities are destroyed, with 16% saying Trump should stop the war immediately.
Compared to prominent podcasters Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, both of whom have criticized the president over the Iran war, the poll found 83% of likely Republican voters trust Trump’s judgement, while just 6% place more confidence in the former Fox News hosts.
Even more respondents (84%) agree with Trump’s foreign policy views over Carlson and Kelly (6%), while 85% say they take the president more seriously on world affairs than media commentators and podcasters (6% again).
Trump has largely declined to engage with Carlson and Kelly’s critiques — except to praise syndicated talk radio host Mark Levin, a staunch backer of the Iran war who traded personal attacks with Kelly in recent days.
“Mark Levin, a truly Great American Patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people with far less Intellect, Capability, and Love for our Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social on the evening of March 15.
“He is a true Conservative, and Intellect, far smarter than those who criticize him but, above all, he is a man of Great Wisdom and Common Sense who truly loves our Country,” Trump went on. “When you hear others unfairly attack Mark, remember that they are jealous and angry Human Beings, whose ‘sway’ is much less than the Public understands, and will, now that they know where I stand, rapidly diminish.”
“Those that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a Sick, Demented, and Violent Terrorist Regime, to have a Nuclear Weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the World. MAGA is about stopping them cold, and that is exactly what we are doing.”
Elsewhere, the poll found that 78% of Republican voters were more likely to support a congressional candidate in this year’s midterms who backs Trump’s military action against Iran, while just 10% said they were more likely to support a candidate who opposes the war.
If a GOP candidate was more aligned with the Carlson-Kelly camp, 55% of respondents said they would be less likely to support that candidate, while just 19% said they were more likely to give them their vote.
The J.L. Partners poll surveyed 1,018 likely Republican voters March 17-18, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.1 percentage points.
