On Saturday night, as Townhall has been covering, President Donald Trump announced an assault on Iran's nuclear program. While some are less than thrilled about the move, Trump has been consistently saying for years that Iran cannot acquire a nuclear weapon, as he's been reminding, which Vice President JD Vance also pointed out. Polls have not only shown that his fellow Republicans are on board with him and his actions thus far, but Americans overall also share Trump's concerns about Iran.
Look, I'm seeing this from the inside, and am admittedly biased towards our president (and my friend), but there's a lot of crazy stuff on social media, so I wanted to address some things directly on the Iran issue:
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 17, 2025
First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that…
CNN's Harry Enten has been highlighting how encouraging the numbers are for Trump, among Republicans especially, but also Americans overall. Before Trump announced Saturday's attack, Enten last week appeared on "CNN News Central," where he went over the numbers. This included referencing data from The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, released in late April, and polling from the University of Maryland conducted in early May.
Although he pointed out "it's a complicated picture overall" regarding numbers on the issue with Iran, Enten added, "I feel like there's more support for Donald Trump's positions than is commonly acknowledged." He then highlighted the April numbers showing 79 percent of all adults oppose Iran getting a nuclear weapon, the same percentage of Independents and Democrats. It's higher for Republicans at 83 percent.
"When you get 79 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Republicans agreeing on anything, you know that that position is the very clear majority in this country. And so, the American public is with Donald Trump. They definitely oppose Iran getting nuclear weapons," Enten stressed.
Reminding how these numbers are from April, Enten pointed out that 48 percent favor airstrikes if Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon, while 47 percent are opposed. A strong number of Republicans are supportive, with 69 percent saying so. "The clear vast majority of Republicans favor U.S. airstrikes on Iran on their nuclear facilities," Enten reminded, even as some Republican voices might not be saying the same things. "But the clear majority, the clear majority of Republicans are with Donald Trump if, in fact, Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, they do, in fact, potentially favor U.S. airstrikes," he stressed.
Although Enten and anchor Sara Sidner discussed May polling showing support for a "negotiated agreement" over "military action," by 69-14 percent, including 64 percent of Republicans, it's worth reminding that Trump had been running out of patience when it comes to the dictatorial regime coming through.
Enten shared a clip on Saturday night, after news had come out about the attack on three nuclear sites.
Polling on Iran depends on question wording... but 79%+ of Dems, indies, & GOP were with Trump & opposed Iran getting nuclear arms.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 22, 2025
Further when asked if Iran was working to get nuclear arms: 69% of the GOP favored U.S. airstrikes & so did a plurality of all Americans. pic.twitter.com/duS7NIyUdH
Since then, there's been more recent polling showing good news for Trump on this issue. Fox News on Saturday morning, less than 12 hours before the attack on nuclear facilities was announced, highlighted the results from its recent poll.
When registered voters were asked if Iran poses a national security threat to the United States, 73 percent said it does. When that question was asked in July 2019, 60 percent said so. In between Trump's two terms was the particularly failed Biden-Harris administration, which, like the Obama-Biden administration, enabled Iran, in this case by failing to enforce sanctions and lifting waivers.
A majority of every single demographic – and there are plenty with the Fox News poll – says Iran poses such a threat. This includes 69 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans.
The poll was conducted June 13-16, with Israel's attack on Iran taking place on June 12. The poll also asked if voters approved of Israel's decision, with a plurality, 49 percent, saying they did. Forty-six percent disapprove.
Additionally, voters were asked about whether eight issues concerned them. When it comes to which issues had the highest amount of concern, "Iran getting a nuclear bomb" was fourth, with 78 percent saying they were concerned, and a plurality, 44 percent, saying they were "extremely concerned." The other issues ranking higher included the 85 percent who say they're concerned about "The future of our country," the 84 percent who say so about "Inflation and higher prices," and the 80 percent who say so about "Government spending."
The poll included 1,003 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Speaking once more of Vance, he also appeared on NBC News' "Meet the Press," where he issued host Kristen Welker key reminders on Iran. "We're not at war with Iran, we're at war with Iran's nuclear program," the vice president said in response to the first question he was asked.
He reiterated this throughout the interview, including when asked about what could come next. "But what we said to the Iranians is we do not want war with Iran; we actually want peace. But we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program, and that's exactly what the president accomplished last night," Vance stressed on Sunday morning about Saturday's attack.
There actually could be that sense of "diplomacy" involved. "I really think there are two big questions for the Iranians here: Are they going to attack American troops, or are they going to continue with their nuclear weapons program? And if they leave American troops out of it and they decide to give up their nuclear weapons program once and for all, then I think the president has been very clear. We can have a good relationship with the Iranians. We can have a peaceful situation in that region of the world," Vance offered. "We have to step back a little bit, Kristen, and remind ourselves that we negotiated aggressively with the Iranians to try to find a peaceful settlement to this conflict. It was only when the president decided that the Iranians were not negotiating in good faith that he took this action. He didn't take it lightly, but I actually think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations, and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbors, not to be a threat to the United States. And if they're willing to do that, the United States is all ears."
.@VP: "We do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace, but we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program — and that's exactly what the President accomplished last night." pic.twitter.com/qV1Kp64Qfr
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 22, 2025
"We didn't blow up the diplomacy. The diplomacy never was given a real chance by the Iranians," says @VP.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 22, 2025
"The Iranians are clearly not very good at war. Perhaps they should follow President Trump's lead and give peace a chance." pic.twitter.com/pJ2tpqekom
