US President Donald Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during military operations in Iran, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, US, Feb. 28, 2026. Photo: The White House/Social Media/Handout via REUTERS

The results of last weekend’s straw poll from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas appear to push back on the narrative that the US-Israel war with Iran has fractured the Republican Party’s political base.

The poll, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates among more than 1,600 CPAC attendees — a sub-sample of right-wing voters that is often synonymous with the grassroots base — found that 89 percent approved of US President Donald Trump’s use of military force in Iran, with 70 percent strongly approving and 19 percent somewhat approving. Just 8 percent said they disapproved.

CPAC shared the results on social media, writing, “The media says one thing — the base says another. 89% back action against Iran and 85% stand with Israel in the CPAC Straw Poll.”

The media says one thing—the base says another. 89% back action against Iran and 85% stand with Israel in the CPAC Straw Poll. pic.twitter.com/fyiHvrj1kW

— CPAC (@CPAC) March 29, 2026

The numbers came amid weeks of media coverage suggesting significant divisions within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, and even among the CPAC audience, over the joint US-Israeli military campaign against the Iranian regime.

“Iran War Divides Conservatives On and Off Stage at CPAC,” a CNN headline on March 27 read. PBS News Hour, on March 19, ran a segment titled, “Iran War Creates Growing Cracks Within Trump’s MAGA Movement.”

There have been an increasing number of high-profile legislators and podcasters — such as Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Tucker Carlson — who have come out against the military operations against the Iranian regime, as well as against a robust US-Israel diplomatic and military relationship.

Some of them spoke at CPAC — Gaetz, for example, said the US should not “have some sort of near slavish loyalty to a country in a faraway land,” an apparent reference to Israel — and others have massive podcasts and dedicate most of their time to discussing Israel, Jews, and their alleged influence on US politics.

However, polls have consistently shown Republican voters, and especially MAGA Republicans, disagree with some of these prominent voices.

According to recent polling on the war, 85 percent to 90 percent of MAGA Republicans support the US strikes on Iran. Other groups of Republicans are less enthusiastic (although they all support it on net). And even among those who do not explicitly support the strikes, it is not at all clear that they agree with the approach and inflammatory rhetoric of those such as Carlson and Gaetz.

NEW: There is no MAGA split on Iran.

Poll after poll show that ~85-90% of MAGA Republicans support the US strikes on Iran.

*Many* news outlets ran with stories from Tucker, Bannon, etc without checking if they represented any meaningful segment of GOP voters. They don’t. pic.twitter.com/woavdTWgDZ

— Gabe Fleisher (@WakeUp2Politics) March 11, 2026

The poll also asked CPAC attendees about their views on the 2028 Republican presidential primary. Vice President JD Vance — who has reportedly been a voice within the administration more skeptical of its foreign policy decisions, particularly on Iran — garnered 53 percent support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has led the charge on the administration’s foreign policy, received 35 percent of the vote. Observers have noted that, relative to 2025, Vance’s proportion of support among CPAC attendees dropped from 61 percent, while Rubio’s skyrocketed from just 3 percent.