Poll: Many Americans Oppose Killing Iranian General Soleimani

A new poll from Politico-Morning Consult shows the American public substantially less on board with escalatory violence against Iran than media coverage of the situation would generally lead one to believe.

The poll showed the decision to assassinate top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was highly controversial. Despite weeks of vilifying Soleimani, only 44% support his killing, and 38% continue to disapprove.

There was a lot more unity on the response to Iran’s retaliation for the killing, with 71% approving of not responding militarily to that, and only 14% disapproving. It seems further escalating the conflict is something almost nobody wanted.

Morning Consult said they believe voters are paying more attention to national security issues, and that security is the number one issue with voters. While the threat of war with Iran has declined somewhat, it’s still very much a concern.

A second poll from NPR-PBS-Marist, showed a split on party lines over the question of Trump’s handling on Iran. This poll did not appear to ask specific questions on the policy, and seems to have just been an effort to find political leanings. Unsurprisingly, Republicans overwhelmingly supported Trump, and Democrats overwhelmingly opposed him on Iran.

With America so deeply political divided, this is likely not a particularly revelatory result, though on the whole it still pointed to a deep split on the Iran conflict.