On Iran, a reminder that party trumps values

After Trump's Iran attack, MAGA voters are not isolationist anymore

Dear readers,

Last week, I wrote in my weekly chart article "The myth of Republican isolationism" that the GOP is not in fact the party of isolationism, despite the conventional wisdom about Donald Trump and his coalition. I pointed out that support for joining Israel's war against Iran was higher among Republicans than Democrats, even though it was still very low (around 20% for Trump voters) overall.

In hindsight, in terms of absolute (compared to relative) support for war, I think the title of the article exaggerated the lack of isolationism among Republicans at the time I published. After all, 20% approval for intervention is pretty darn low — roughly equal to support for the U.S. joining World War II before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

But now, six days after Trump dropped one of the biggest payloads of conventional bombs in history on Iran, I think we have even more data — and a new angle — supporting the original thesis. This week's Chart of the Week is about how public opinion …