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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nA current survey shows that a narrow majority of voters in the United States believe Donald Trump undertook military steps against Iran at least partly to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The official codename of the operation was \u201cOperation Epic Fury.\u201d In public another name has long taken hold: \u201cOperation Epstein Fury.\u201d The Anti-Defamation League and the Washington Post described this renaming as antisemitic this week. The Post wrote that the spread of the term originated from a pro-Iranian propaganda network. The term \u201cEpstein class,\u201d however, was first used by American Democratic politicians. The Post had shortly before dismissed its entire Middle East team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The survey also asked about Israel\u2019s influence on Trump\u2019s decisions. 47 percent said Trump acts more in the interest of the American people. 46 percent said he acts more in the interest of Israel. Among independents - the group that delivered Trump his election victory - 50 percent said he prioritizes Israeli interests. Among Democrats it was 75 percent. Asked whether the war primarily serves American or primarily Israeli interests, 50 percent answered American and 41 percent Israeli. No U.S. president has previously entered a war with 41 percent of the population convinced he was fighting it for another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
55 percent of respondents oppose the war. Thirty-nine percent oppose it strongly. Only 42 percent support it. Forty-nine percent say the war will make their lives harder. Ten percent expect an improvement. One third expect no effect. For Democrats in Congress, the poll carries a clear message: anyone who supports the war would face about 79 percent less support in the 2026 primaries. This figure does not represent a vote share. It reflects a modeled drop in support within the Democratic electorate. Respondents were asked how they would react to candidates who support the war versus those who oppose it. The result suggests that a pro-war Democratic candidate would likely lose roughly 79 percent of their existing support in primary contests. A similar pattern appears for potential presidential candidates in 2028. Among Republicans the dynamic runs in the opposite direction \u2013 a pro-war candidate gains a net 39 percentage points. In a general election, however, a pro-war position carries a penalty of about minus 19 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time the survey shows a tension that cannot easily be resolved. 83 percent of respondents say it is important to them that Iran does not possess missiles capable of reaching Israel. Only 13 percent believe countries fundamentally have the right to defend themselves with such weapons. Iran already possesses those missiles. Finally respondents were asked how much they had heard about the attack on a girls\u2019 elementary school in southern Iran in which more than 180 people died, mostly children. 32 percent had heard nothing about it. 23 percent little. Among those who had heard about it, 70 percent said they believed Israel, the United States, or both together were responsible. 25 percent believed Iran itself had struck the school - a version Trump and other supporters of the war had spread without evidence. Among Republicans 45 percent believe that. The other 45 percent of Republicans hold the United States responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The survey is not an indictment. It is a mirror. And that mirror shows a population that distrusts the war, distrusts its justification, and increasingly also distrusts the man who began it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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