Today's Poll Question: Was 2024 already lost for Democrats before Biden dropped out?

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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 Wednesday, it's the 17th of June, 2026 Yesterday, one of the closest poll results that we've had in quite some time, 27,244 voted. Is Trump retreating too soon on Iran? 51.14% of us, I was in the slight majority, said yes. 48.86% said no. So decided really by a whisker. I dedicated my note in the newsletter today to this latest situation with Iran and I said, we've not yet seen the official memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, the final version of which is to be signed on Friday in Switzerland. But you can read a draft in today's newsletter. And if the reported terms hold, then Iran is reiterating that it will never produce a nuclear weapon. In exchange, the US will help create a $300 billion fund for Iran's rehabilitation and economic development. The Wall Street Journal editorial page calls this a quote unquote retreat. And that's where I took the language for yesterday's poll question, for which I've just given you the result. But even the New York Post, like no dove on Iran, is questioning this promise that Tehran has made and broken before regarding its nuclear ambitions, noting the gap between what it says and what it does. And I am already writing my postmortem on this fight.
It's along these lines. The administration never made an effective case that Iran posed an imminent threat. Netanyahu found himself in the right place at the right time to finally persuade, cajole an American president to attempt regime change, based on an outlook that the Iranian people were going to rise up. They didn't.
Our military hit every target, but regime change doesn't come from air alone. That takes troops on the ground, a commitment that Trump would not make. And so as gas prices rose with the midterms on the horizon, America's lack of patience became Iran's best weapon.
And now Trump appears to have had it with Netanyahu. You can read the AP story today where he says Bibi has got to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.
Iran's missile program is degraded but not obliterated. Same for its nuclear capability and we don't have the dust. The leadership has changed but not the regime. The US is about to pay war reparations and Iran wins by simply not losing. That's it. I'm going to save this one so that I can dust it off and remind everybody of it down the road. Today's poll question was 2024 already lost for Democrats before Biden dropped out? I'll explain why I'm asking that question in just a moment.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:13)
This Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:16)
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