Trump dismisses negative polling on Iran attack

The president said he doesn’t care about public opinion surveys as he defended the new war in the Middle East

US President Donald Trump has dismissed polls indicating that a majority of Americans disapprove of his decision to attack Iran.

A CNN poll suggests that 60% of Americans do not support the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday, while a Reuters/Ipsos poll indicates that only one in four Americans approves of the attack.

“I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” Trump told the New York Post in an interview published on Monday.

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“Look, whether polling is low or not, I think the polling is probably fine. But it’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said, claiming that “a real poll” would show that Americans support his actions.

The president has argued that the strikes, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, were necessary to dismantle Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He also called on ordinary Iranians to topple their government.

Most Democrats and some Republicans have condemned the strikes as dangerous and unjustified. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries accused Trump of launching “another endless war in the Middle East.”

Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, said the war contradicts Trump’s “America First” campaign slogan.