The results of a Harris Poll released this week indicate that 84 percent of Americans are mostly paying attention to the war in Iraq and 74 percent are following Iran-related news. The attention afforded to the war in Afghanistan is less but still a solid majority of those polled. The May 8-14 poll shows that 67 percent say they are paying a great deal or fair amount of attention to events in Afghanistan. North Korea is getting our attention, too—63 percent of Americans are interested in how events there impact the United States. More than half of US adults said the situation in Iraq is getting worse, while 26 percent said the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse. Yet the same percentage of adults said they are “not sure” on that subject.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.