More than two-thirds of U.S. senators, including more than two dozen Democrats, have said that they support President Trump’s decision to strike an air base in Syria in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Much of that support came with concern about what comes next, but this is one of the first times in Trump’s presidency that a major policy decision has received more than token support from Senate Democrats.
FiveThirtyEight looked at their public comments since the strikes, which occurred on Thursday night Eastern Time. Some statements fall somewhere between categories, in which case we used our best judgment. See a full list of senators’ positions at the bottom of this article.
A tally of senators’ positions also illustrated an important partisan divide. Almost every Democrat who backed the military strikes hedged their support. Some argued that Trump should have consulted Congress before this move. Others said that, going forward, the president would need to ask for and receive formal congressional authorization or at least present a detailed Syria strategy to the country before any further military action.
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