Polling shows 90% of MAGA Republicans back Iran strikes as Trump says Tucker Carlson 'is not MAGA'

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about whether the MAGA movement is splitting apart over the war with Iran. Scroll through social media or watch a few cable panels and you’ll hear the narrative repeated over and over again: Trump supporters are at odds with each other. But when you actually dig into the polling numbers, the story looks very different. 

Sure, there are loud voices on the far right like commentators like Tucker Carlson, who has blasted the military operation in Iran as “absolutely disgusting and evil.” President Donald Trump didn’t take kindly to that criticism and came out this week with some forceful pushback. 

“Tucker has lost his way. I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA,” the U.S. president told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl. “MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America First, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.” 

That’s about as direct as it gets and Trump’s political allies say the polling backs him up, arguing that what looks like a MAGA split is actually a clash between the movement itself and a small faction of isolationists trying to claim the label. 

“The polling I have says over 90% of MAGA Republicans support military action in Iran and Donald Trump has over a 95% job approval with MAGA Republicans,” Trump pollster Jim McLaughlin told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. “President Trump has earned the Trust of MAGA supporters by keeping his promises and his record of success.” 

McLaughlin went further, drawing a sharp distinction between MAGA voters and critics who are suddenly invoking the movement’s name. 

“Many of those so-called MAGA voices who are attacking President Trump’s bold actions on Iran have lost their way, and they are anything but MAGA,” McLaughlin continues. “Iran has been at War with America for almost 50 years. President Trump is the only one who has had the courage to oust the terrorist dictatorship in Iran.” 

Michael Glassner, former Trump Campaign chief operating officer, echoed that same sentiment. 

“Patriotic Americans in the MAGA movement strongly support President Trump’s courageous campaign to eliminate Iran’s ability to terrorize its neighbors and to threaten the United States by achieving nuclear weapons capabilities,” Glassner told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. “All the polls support this fact. While many isolationists who claim to be “MAGA” disagree with this military action, President Trump is the leader and decider of our movement – not them.” 

The data backs all of this up and shows a pretty clear pattern. 

Take the new NBC News poll, for example. It shows the expected partisan divide in American politics when it comes to the strikes on Iran. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats (89%) say the U.S. should not have struck Iran, while 58% of independents agree with them. 

Republicans, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly supportive of the operation: 77% say the United States should have taken military action, while just 15% oppose it. 

But a deeper dive into the numbers finds a statistic that pushes back on the MAGA divide narrative coming from the mainstream press. 

Among self-identified MAGA Republicans, support for the strikes on Iran climbs even higher. A full 90% back the strikes, while only 5% say they should not have happened. That’s not exactly a movement in revolt. 

Where the divide does appear is among Republicans who don’t identify with the MAGA movement. That group is much more split, with 54% supporting the strikes and 36% opposing them. 

This suggests that the supposed MAGA fracture line may actually be something closer to a broader Republican debate, but not as much within MAGA itself. The loud voices with big followings are clearly getting attention. 

Other polling shows similar results. 

A Trafalgar Group survey asking voters about “Operation Epic Fury” – the U.S. name for the joint military operation with Israel targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure – found 53% overall approval and an overwhelming 84% approval among Republicans. 

Additional surveys reinforce the same trend. A CBS poll shows 85% of Republicans support the president’s strikes on Iran; a Fox News poll puts Republican support at 84%; a Washington Post poll shows 81% backing the action; a Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 82% support among Republicans. 

Of course, when you zoom out beyond the Republican base, the numbers start to look different. 

A CNN poll shows 59% of Americans disapprove of the initial decision to strike Iran, while 41% approve. Strong disapproval stands at 31%, roughly double the 16% who strongly approve. 

Americans are also wary of where things might go next. 

A majority (56%) say they believe long-term military conflict between the United States and Iran is at least somewhat likely, and only 12% of Americans support sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.  

So, what does all of this mean politically? Well, here’s where the conversation gets a bit more complicated. 

It’s one thing to ask polling questions about whether President Trump should have hit Iran, but it’s another question altogether when it comes to the “what next” question. 

If there’s no clear way forward in the next six months or so and the military operation in Iran drags on, then it may begin to feel like an endless war with no specific detailed outcome in sight. At that point, the polling will likely begin to tank among MAGA and the GOP as a whole. 

Trump may be getting the benefit of the doubt from his base for now, but that calculus – and the polling – could shift if the conflict begins to feel like an open-ended quagmire.