A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows.
The survey results come at a time of increasing U.S. scrutiny of Iran. According to reports from the Associated Press, earlier this month Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of "lying" about the aim of its nuclear program and Vice President Dick Cheney has raised the prospect of "serious consequences" if the U.S. were to discover Iran was attempting to devolop a nuclear weapon. Last week, the Bush administration also announced new sanctions against Iran.
Democrats (63%) are most likely to believe a U.S. military strike against Iran could take place in the relatively near future, but independents (51%) and Republicans (44%) are less likely to agree. Republicans, however, are much more likely to be supportive of a strike (71%), than Democrats (41%) or independents (44%). Younger likely voters are more likely than those who are older to say a strike is likely to happen before the election and women (58%) are more likely than men (48%) to say the same – but there is little difference in support for a U.S. strike against Iran among these groups.
Well I guess there really are no lessons that are not worth learning again. After the invasion of Iraq, I would have expected a higher level of skepticism from the American public, but I was wrong.
The consequences of war against Iran are dire, but a poll such as this during a presidential campaign year will only lead to increase warmongering as each candidate now will attempt to out-war the other. Leading the charge will no doubt be the Republicans, but the Democrats know how to bend with the wind when its convenient, and there is nothing that would be more convenient than winning the 2008 election.
We discussed the possible consequences of war against Iran in a previous post and we stick by that analysis. Unfortunately, reason does not get you votes in American politics.
Click here for the full report from Zogby International
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