The Economist.
20,000 die hard fans filled the arena bathed in red and blue light.
It was the final stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign
and Donald Trump was holding a massive rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The crowd cheered as he made a clear promise, You're not going to have a war with me.
President Trump has now broken that promise.
America is at war.
Will the conflict in Iran become a political albatross for Donald Trump?
I'm Charlotte Howard and this is Checks and Balance from The Economist.
Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
Today, what are the political consequences of the Iran war?
There's often a rally round the flag effect when a president takes a country to war,
but not for Donald Trump.
His approval rating is around 40%, similar to where it was before the attacks
and almost identical to the percentage of Americans who support his actions in Iran.
Despite MAGA's historic reluctance to go to war,
support for this conflict is much higher among Trump's base than any other constituency.
What factors are shaping Americans' perception of this war?
What are the politics of high prices at the pump?
And how could the war influence the outcome of the midterm elections?