Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Monday shared with GOP colleagues results from a new poll that showed overwhelming support among Republicans for President Donald Trump’s strikes in Iran.
The poll is the first conducted of Trump voters since Saturday night’s efforts to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities.
Nine in 10 respondents support the airstrikes on the three facilities, according to the poll from GrayHouse, the polling and data analytics firm that has become a go-to for Senate Republicans. The survey included 450 people who voted for Trump last year.
The numbers are meant to undercut the idea that Trump’s hawkish pivot is dividing the Republican base, which has taken on an increasingly isolationist flavor since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Senate GOP conference spokesperson. Cotton is chair of the Senate Republican Conference.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly criticized past leaders for bogging down the United States in foreign conflicts, and some on the right, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Tucker Carlson, voiced concern that the president was making a similar mistake.
But only 10 percent of respondents thought Saturday’s strikes were the same kind of military intervention that has led to long-term problems in the U.S. and only 13 percent thought strikes constituted a “war” with Iran.
The spokesperson said one goal of the poll is to show that the isolationist influencers “don’t remotely speak for Republican voters who back Trump’s effort as close to unanimously as you can be.”
Cotton, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have emerged as two of Trump’s chief defenders, arguing that a nuclear-armed Iran posed an existential threat to America and its allies.
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