CBS News poll on Americans' views on Iran prior to conflict
CBSN
In polling completed just before news of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran, most Americans thought the U.S. should be at least pressuring or engaging the Iranian leadership in some form. In:
In polling completed just before news of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran, most Americans thought the U.S. should be at least pressuring or engaging the Iranian leadership in some form.
And in the days before the strikes began, there was movement toward approval of a U.S. military action specifically to stop them from making nuclear weapons; that change came after President Trump's State of the Union address earlier this week, on Feb. 24.
The effect of that was that the nation went into the start of the conflict split about it.
The public had voiced a collective uncertainty about how long a conflict with Iran would last. More thought it would last months or even years, rather than just days or weeks. Supporters tended to think it would be short.
That sets some context as it now unfolds.

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