More than 70% of Americans polled since the attacks on Iran began say they either disapprove of President Trump’s decisions or are unsure.
Iranian attack protests and American celebrations
Americans are protesting and celebrating in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles in the wake of the Iranian attack.
Only one in four Americans support the attack on Iran that killed leader Ali Khamenei, according to a new poll released less than 48 hours after the United States and Israel launched a deadly joint military strike.
About 27% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they supported a strike, but a majority said they were unsure (29%) or did not support a strike (43%).
The two-day poll, which ended Sunday, March 1, found that nearly half of respondents (56%) think President Donald Trump is too willing to use military force to advance U.S. interests.
A majority of Democrats (87%) hold this view, as do 23% of Republicans and 60% of those with no party affiliation.
President Trump has also ordered military action in Venezuela, Syria and Nigeria in recent months.
The poll surveyed 1,282 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Surveys conducted in the weeks leading up to the early-morning attack on Saturday, February 28, showed that attitudes toward a potential conflict with Iran appeared to be swaying based on hypothesized motives amid a massive build-up of the U.S. military presence in the region.
In a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted the day before the airstrike, 51% of respondents said they supported U.S. military action against Iran to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
However, when the CBS poll asked about their preference for how the United States should approach Iran’s current leadership, a majority of respondents said they would prefer diplomacy or sanctions over military action, at 38% and 22%, respectively. Only 18% said they wanted to remove U.S. leadership by force, and another 22% said they did not want any involvement.
President Trump and his administration officials have argued that Iran poses an imminent threat. They have repeatedly claimed that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of attacking the United States. But national security analysts and experts on Iran and its ruling regime told USA TODAY that these claims are based on assumptions that are either false or greatly exaggerated.
More than 200 people were killed and more than 700 injured in the attack, Reuters reported, citing the Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian organization working in the region. Official estimates of the number of deaths and injuries have not been confirmed by U.S. or international authorities.
Three U.S. service members have been killed in combat as the conflict with Iran continues, according to U.S. military officials.
In a poll conducted by the University of Maryland in early February, 49% of respondents said they opposed the US launching an attack on Iran, and another 30% said they were unsure whether they supported or opposed it. Support was highest among Republicans at 40%, while 21% of independents and just 6% of Democrats felt the same way.
An AP-NORC Center poll conducted the weekend before the airstrike found that 48% were “very” or “extremely” concerned about Iran’s nuclear program as a direct threat to the United States.
But the survey also showed low confidence in President Trump’s ability to manage military forces and relations with America’s adversaries. A majority (56%) said they had “a little” or “not at all” confidence in the president regarding the use of military force outside the United States, and a similar number (55%) indicated similarly low confidence levels in President Trump’s handling of adversaries.
Only 27% of Americans and 14% of independents say they trust the president to make the right choices when it comes to using military force overseas.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.
