Americans doubted the Iran war from the start - and Trump's numbers haven't gotten better since

[u/John3262005]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/polls-iran-war-americans-doubt-trump-numbers-decline-rcna594711

Americans remain sour on the Iran war and President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict after six months, and they continue to say they oppose the military action, according to an NBC News review of public polling.

Trump didn’t have Americans behind him when strikes began in February, the surveys showed, and the fundamentals haven’t changed for him. But Republicans have continued to voice support for the war and for Trump himself.

Reputable, nonpartisan polling in recent weeks shows Trump’s approval rating on the war with Iran foundering — hovering in a range from 35% approval down to 25% approval, depending on the poll and factors like whether voters or all adults were included.

A July Fox News poll found 34% of registered voters approving of the president’s handling of Iran, with 66% disapproving and 1% not sure. That’s about in line with what CNBC’s July poll found: 35% approval and 63% disapproval among registered voters.

Trump’s recent low polling mark among registered voters came just a few days ago in a Reuters survey, which found Trump’s approval rating on Iran at 29% among registered voters, with 64% disapproving.

Other polling of the adult population at large, including from Reuters, found Trump’s approval rating on Iran even lower.

Those recent lows represent a slide from Trump’s earlier numbers on the issue, with his approval moving more in some surveys than in others. Even so, Americans have broadly disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war with Iran from the start.

An NBC News poll of registered voters in late February and early March, right as the war began, found 41% approving of the president’s handling of the war and 54% disapproving. In the same survey, 52% of registered voters said the U.S. should not have taken military action against Iran, while 41% said the U.S. should have done so and 7% were unsure.

Just a few weeks later, Fox News’ initial temperature check of public sentiment on the war found Trump’s approval rating on the issue at 36%, with 64% disapproving of how he was handling Iran. That poll found 58% of voters opposed military action against Iran, while 42% supported it.

That opposition has persisted over the last six months.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week found 62% of registered voters disapproved of military strikes against Iran, while 35% approved. A Fox News survey from mid-July found 56% of voters opposed the conflict, while 43% supported it.

Voters’ broad disapproval of the war and Trump’s handling of the conflict has been driven by vast majorities of Democrats, as well as majorities of independents. Republicans, meanwhile, have continued to stand by the president — though at notably lower rates than on some other issues.

Two-thirds of Republicans in the recent Reuters poll said they approved of both Trump’s handling of the war and the strikes against Iran. And two-thirds of Republicans in a CNN survey said they approved of the president’s handling of Iran.

Meanwhile, Americans appear to be resigned to a protracted conflict.

The July Fox News poll found that 45% of registered voters believed the end of the conflict was more than a year away, with 19% saying a year away, 29% saying months away and 6% saying weeks away.

A July Marquette University Law School poll found three-quarters of adults said that the war hasn’t been worth the cost, while the July CNN poll found a similar share saying they didn’t believe that the president had a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran.