Context of 'June 20, 2012: Poll: Most Americans Believe Iran Will Attack Israel with Nuclear Weapons if Available'

According to a wide-ranging poll conducted by Dartmouth professor Benjamin Valentino, over 89 percent of self-identified Republicans believe that if Iran secures any sort of nuclear weapons, it will use them to attack Israel. Sixty-two percent of self-identified Democrats and over 68 percent of self-identified independents have similar views. Jim Lobe of InterPressService writes that the results are “a rather dramatic demonstration of how effective Israel and the Israel lobby have been in shaping public opinion here, given that US and Israeli experts generally agree that such an attack, while possible, would be highly unlikely.” [Valentino, 6/20/2012 ; Jim Lobe, 6/20/2012; Huffington Post, 6/21/2012]