Today's Poll Question: Is Trump retreating too soon on Iran?

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Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

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But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

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Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

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For Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:14)
Hello, hello. Hi, gang. Today is Tuesday. It's the 16th of June, 2026 Yesterday, 27,031 voted at smerconish.com. Jeans or money? Which shapes a child's brain more? 69.61% went with jeans. I said yesterday, when you first hear the poll question, you're going to think, oh, he's run out of ideas. He's going back to the evergreen playbook, the old nature versus nurture. But yesterday, Scott Marrick was a great guest on the program. He's a professor at Washington University's Malin Crott Institute of Radiology, and more important for our purposes, the lead author on a study that was just published in the journal Science. He and his team, they scanned the brains of more than 2,309 and 10-year-olds. They threw every variable at the wall, income, parental education, neighborhood, IQ, sleep, stress, screen time.
And then they ranked each of them by how strongly they correlate with actual physical differences in the brain.
And socio-economics dominated by a wide margin, in Marek's words. And the mechanism wasn't mysterious. It was sleep and stress and screens. And as he explained yesterday on radio, and you can watch it on YouTube, watch that interview, kids in under-resourced neighborhoods get less of the first and more of the other two, and all three show up as measurable differences in the brain circuits, something they can actually see in MRIs. So that's why I went back to that well yesterday, and I thought it was a really good conversation. 69.61%, as I say, going with genes. Today's poll question in light of the news relative to Iran. I am asking, is Trump retreating too soon on Iran? Make sure you're voting at smerconish.com.

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This is the Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:20)
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The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com.

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A non-scientific social political question designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

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Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:19)
I'll get to the poll question in just a moment, but my note today, I'm really kind of digging my note in the newsletter today. Please make sure that you are subscribed, meaning that you've signed up for the newsletter. It's free and it's worthy and every day I offer some thoughts on the news of the day. Here's what I wrote today. I'm an independent. You know I'm an independent.
New data from CNN backs up the company I keep. Because according to CNN's data, independents are now 47% of the population, the highest share CNN has measured in more than a decade. And that tracks almost point for point with Gallup. Gallup in their self-identification said the number is 45%. 45% independent, 27% D, 27% R. It's a high according to the CNN number. It's a high according to the Gallup number. You know, two pollsters, two methods, same conclusion. The biggest political tribe in America, the one that refuses to join a tribe.