COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Two-Thirds of Americans Say U.S. Is Less Safe After Soleimani Strike, Poll Says

New poll shows respondents fear the assassination has made a terrorist attack on home soil more likely.

More than two-thirds of Americans in a new national poll said the United States is less safe following the assassination of top Iran general Qassem Soleimani, USA Today reports. There is an overwhelming belief that the attack made it more likely Iran would strike U.S. interests in the Middle East, with 69 percent of people agreeing in the Ipsos poll released Thursday. Sixty-three percent of respondents said the strike made it more likely there would be terrorist attacks on American soil, and 62 percent said that the U.S. and Iran would go to war with each other. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said President Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani was “reckless,” compared to just 34 percent of people said it wasn’t. A double-digit majority said Congress should be able to limit Trump’s ability to order military strikes or declare war without first getting approval. Few of the findings will be welcomed by Trump, but a 53 percent majority did agree that that the killing of Soleimani “shows Iran that the U.S. won’t be pushed around.”