Voters know Iran is about 'distracting' from Epstein: report

Iran may have finally diverted some online clicks from the Jeffrey Epstein case plaguing President Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean Americans don’t know Trump’s invasion is a ploy of distraction.

“A majority of likely American voters believe that Donald Trump launched the war on Iran at least in part to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that had engulfed his presidency, according to a new survey,” reports Zeteo.

An early March survey of 1,272 likely voters, conducted by Data for Progress and funded by Drop Site News and Zeteo, found a solid 52-40 majority of voters agreed with the statement that Trump was “motivated” to strike Iran to “distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.”

“The findings will come as little surprise to a public that has morphed Trump’s codename for the war, Operation Epic Fury, into ‘Operation Epstein Fury,” reports Zeteo writer Ryan Grium. “The belief that Trump is trying to knock Epstein off the front pages by going to war with Iran is most strongly held, unsurprisingly, by Democrats, who agree with the statement by an 81-14 margin. For those under 45, it is approaching an article of faith, with a 66-26 majority agreeing with the idea.”

But the survey discovered that “even a quarter of Republicans told pollsters that Trump launched the war as a distraction from Epstein.”

Zeteo reports the public is maintaining this stance despite the belief being branded as antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League and the Washington Post, which said the “viral claim” owed its popularity to a “pro-Iran propaganda network.”

“Pretty quickly after the conflict began, this conspiratorial rebranding of Operation Epic Fury into ‘Operation Epstein Fury’ started circulating on social media platforms,” ADL Senior Vice President of counter-extremism and intelligence Oren Segal told the Post. Grim said a timely ADL report also claimed the phrase “Epstein Fury” has been mentioned more than 90,000 times by roughly 60,000 accounts.

“The Post did not explain why it was antisemitic to believe that Trump launched the war to distract from the Epstein scandal beyond noting that Epstein was Jewish,” said Grim, adding that The Post recently laid off its entire Middle East team while claiming Iranians are “trying to undermine American support for the war by linking it to Epstein.”

The survey also discovered a majority of Americans to be “sour” on the war, and that overwhelmingly, voters believe the war will make their lives worse — despite the survey being underway before war-related fluctuations in the oil market inflated gas prices.

“More pressing for Washington, however, may be the public’s attitude toward politicians and candidates who support the war or support emergency supplemental funding for the war, which Trump has requested,” reported Zeteo.

The survey asked whether voters would be more likely or less likely to vote for a congressional candidate in 2026 or a presidential candidate in 2028 if they support the war or support new war funding. Results suggest voters would be less likely to support a congressional candidate who votes for war spending by 19 points.”

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