Although U.S. polling on the Iran war is poor and gas prices are rising, supporters say public opinion will change.
Trump administration faces questions over claims of Iranian nuclear threat
Experts dispute the Trump administration’s claims about Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities ahead of U.S. military action.
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll released less than 48 hours after the first missile launches found just 27% of Americans approve, compared to 43% who approve.
- Most Republicans, including House Republicans running in battleground districts, support the president.
Despite voting for President Donald Trump three times, Republican Amanda Klein does not accept the administration’s evolving and contradictory rationale for starting a war with Iran.
The 47-year-old retired Navy veteran believes it was the wrong move, especially when he learned that American soldiers were killed early in the conflict.
“I don’t think it’s worth it,” Klein, a native of Cherry Valley, Calif., told USA TODAY. “It’s not our cause. It’s their fight. It’s their system and their problems to solve.”
Klein recalls being deployed overseas in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She said Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at a March 2 press conference that the conflict would not turn into a nation-building effort, but it was a reminder of how the Bush administration’s promises never materialized.
“For the generals to come in there and for Hegseth to just stand there and say, ‘Go to the troops, go to the troops, wave the American flag and support us no matter what,’ it’s kind of an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” said Klein, who also worked at an anti-abortion pregnancy center.
“It was insulting,” she added. “We want to know when that will be because we don’t want any more deaths.”
Klein isn’t the only one who feels that way. President Trump’s war with Iran has been polled poorly, sending gas prices soaring and causing volatility in the stock market, which the administration regularly cites as a bright spot in a shaky economy.
It has also rattled the “Make America Great Again” coalition, whose anti-interventionists have expressed a mix of feelings of disappointment, betrayal and anger, and experts have warned that the gathering Democratic blue wave could turn into a potential tsunami in the 2026 congressional elections.
Of the dozens of polls conducted this year that asked voters which party should control Congress, Democrats led in all but one.
Paul Brace, professor emeritus of political science at Rice University, said foreign affairs rarely influence the outcome of U.S. elections. But he noted that some in Trump’s base are already disillusioned with other broken promises.
“Between the Epstein file and the anti-war sentiments of many Trump supporters, there is a basis for breaking with him,” Brace said. “It’s going to be up to their particular constituency in the context of an election year that’s not favorable for them to begin with.”
Poll shows most Americans oppose war with Iran
Nearly a week after the first attacks, early snapshots show the public wary of moving into the Middle East again, while many memories of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan are still fresh.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released less than 48 hours after the first missile launches found just 27% of Americans approve, compared to 43% who approve.
A preliminary poll conducted by the Washington Post on March 1 found that 52% of Americans oppose Trump’s air strikes, while 39% approve and 9% are unsure. Another report released by CNN on March 2 found that about 59% of Americans disapproved of the decision to go to war, including 68% of independent voters.
Joe McGee, a Republican from Fairfield, Conn., said the Iranian government is an “exporter of terrorism” but questioned President Trump’s ability to manage the war, especially at a time when the United States is at odds with many longtime allies. As a result, he predicted Democrats would gain at least 20 seats in the House midterm elections.
“The problem is that President Trump went from saying, ‘We don’t want these foreign wars, this is a disaster,’ and started probably the biggest war we’ve ever seen in the Middle East,” McGree, 80, a former executive, told USA TODAY.
But most Republicans, including House Republicans running in battleground districts, support the president, perhaps encouraged by a March 3 Fox News poll showing that 61% of Americans believe Iran is a “real national security threat.”
Republican Paul Holtzman, an independent contractor from Roseburg, Pennsylvania, said he supports military action against Iran because of human rights violations by a foreign enemy.
“I think this is the path to peace. Sometimes you can get peace through negotiation, but sometimes you have to use force to bring peace,” he said.
Most Republicans in Congress support Trump.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who represents the battleground district, in an interview with Fox News earlier this week criticized Democrats for continuing to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security during the war, citing demands for more restraints on immigration enforcement officers. He noted that the agency was “created in the aftermath of 9/11.”
Holtzman, 51, said he would like to see Iran, which sparked an Islamic revolution in 1979 after decades of rule by an autocrat, enjoy a non-religious government. Trump is decisive, he said, adding that if voters believe the president has taken the necessary steps toward peace in the region, he will tolerate a certain number of American casualties for a limited time.
“I’m not going to see the military go in there and invade,” Holtzman said. “So if the people need to help get the government to where it needs to be, I’m OK with that to a certain extent.”
On March 4, Mr. Trump received near-unanimous support among Senate Republicans when all but Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky rejected the War Powers Resolution, which called for a cessation of military hostilities against Iran.
In a March 4 post on X, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) said, “Iran is building not only its nuclear capabilities, but also its conventional weapons capabilities to the point that it threatens the entire region,” adding, “(The President) is taking steps to make the world, our country, and our people safer.”
The Trump administration’s most ardent supporters also remain optimistic, telling USA TODAY that the Iranian regime is trying to turn world opinion against Iran by launching attacks on neighboring countries.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a key ally of President Trump, told USA TODAY that he believes the administration will be successful and the country will come together within the four-week timeline laid out by the president.
Roberts said there will need to be clearer communication about what happens next and the threat posed by Iran, adding that Iran has been killing Americans “for decades” through its support of proxies in the Middle East such as Hezbollah.
“We have begun a very successful kneecap against perhaps the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in our lifetime, and this is going to take a long time,” Roberts said.
“We’re going to be successful in Iran. We’re not going there,” Roberts said. “We’re not going to do nation-building because the president’s own conservative movement is sincere enough to prevent that.”
Roberts also believes Trump could be “adjusted” affordably and give his party an advantage in the midterm elections.
“It’s already going to be more of a midterm jump ball than most forecasters expected, but it’s going to be a really competitive midterm election,” he said. “I happen to think that conservatives are going to do well. Do conservatives have to get serious about message discipline? Yeah.”
