Majority Of Voters Back Trump's Strikes On Iran Nuclear Targets: HarrisX Founder & CEO Dritan Nesho

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," HarrisX Founder and CEO Dritan Nesho discussed voters' attitudes on Middle East conflicts.

Transcript

00:00I do now want to set our sights abroad for a moment.

00:04We know last month the United States did drop multiple bunker-busting bombs on different

00:10nuclear sites in Iran, and that received mixed support from lawmakers and from people online.

00:17What do voters think?

00:18Do they think that was the right move?

00:20How did they feel about that?

00:22Well, 58% support Trump's decision to strike at Iran's nuclear reactors and laboratories,

00:35and 54% also view it as a major accomplishment by the U.S. military.

00:42Similar numbers say that the action has served to restore American deterrence in the Middle

00:48East and elsewhere, so they like the effect of the strike.

00:56But again, they remain split on whether or not the strike did severe damage to end Iran's

01:02nuclear ambitions.

01:04And still 80% believe that the administration and the U.S. in general should continue to

01:10take all actions necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

01:18So voters still remain hawkish on Iran.

01:22Trump won points with his actions, and we'll see what happens with a potential deal.

01:31As you know, the Iranians in the last 24 to 48 hours came back and said that they would

01:36favor a negotiated deal.

01:40But even when it comes to negotiated deals, voters in the United States do not want a deal

01:45that simply delays the development of nuclear weapons by a few years or even a number of

01:52years.

01:53They want a deal that permanently blocks it.

01:56And that's a tall order, and that's a difficult threshold to reach.

02:01So it might very well be that we haven't seen the end of the Iran story and potential engagements

02:09with Iran.

02:10Right now, it's a paused conflict with voters and the administration seeing which way Iran

02:19will go and how it will react and reserving the ability to make a decision based on that.

02:25And then continuing to look in the Middle East, Hamas and Israel have been involved in a war

02:31since October 2023.

02:33How do voters feel about that?

02:35Well, voters continue to say that for there to be peace, Hamas must leave Gaza.

02:4656% believe that any peace deal that comes about has to have Hamas leave Gaza and relinquish power

02:58with Gaza.

02:59It should not be a temporary solution.

03:03And again, that's very challenging from a political dynamic perspective.

03:08In general, they support Trump's handling of the conflict so far, but only by a razor thin

03:16margin, 53% to 47%.

03:21And again, there are growing concerns around the humanitarian nature of this conflict.

03:27So while voters are in favor of strong U.S. support for Israel and believe that Hamas as a

03:34terrorist group has to relinquish its arms and be held accountable for its actions on October

03:41the 7th, there is a growing concern also around the humanitarian crisis that's happening in

03:48Gaza.

03:49So the picture is still strongly in support of Israel, but when it comes to the U.S.

03:56administration, voters want to see the administration to engage with both sides of the issue and of

04:03the problem, pushing Hamas out, but also providing relief for the Palestinians.

Category

Transcript

Recommended