President Donald Trump is facing headwinds when it comes to public opinion over the surprise U.S.-Israeli joint operation against Iran that started on Feb. 28, an action that has gotten more unpopular as the military engagement has continued.
Recent polling shows that not only does the military operation remain unpopular, but support for the Iran war is also even lower than support for previous wars when they first began— a warning sign for Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed that 53% of voters oppose the operation against Iran; an overwhelming majority, 74% of voters oppose sending U.S. ground troops into Iran; and 55% didn’t think Iran posed an imminent military threat to the U.S. before Operation Epic Fury began.
When broken down by party, 89% of Democrats and 60% of independents oppose military action against Iran, while 85% of Republicans supported it.
In contrast, only 37% of Americans disapproved of the U.S. airstrikes against Libya in 2011, while 47% approved of the airstrikes, according to a Gallup survey. The survey also showed 90% of Americans approved of the 2001 Afghanistan War when it began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and 76% approved of the Iraq War when it started in 2003.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told the Washington Examiner that while Republicans are “unanimously supportive” of Trump’s action, the president “didn’t launch this combat operation because of the poll numbers.”
“The President took action to end the threat posed by the Iran terrorist regime because it is the right thing for the American people,” Wales said. “The success of Operation Epic Fury speaks for itself: the Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed, their ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent, their navy is wiped out, their production capacity is demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight. Operation Epic Fury is meeting or surpassing all of its goals, and the United States will continue to dominate, eliminating the national security threat posed by the rogue Iranian regime.”
Still, Trump has attempted to change his tune on the war’s length, claiming it would end soon during a press conference this week.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil, and I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” he said Monday at the House GOP’s policy retreat in Doral, Florida.
But those comments were undercut just the day before by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said, “This is only just the beginning,” and again when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also waded into the administration’s mixed messaging on how long the war will last during a Tuesday briefing.
“Ultimately, the operations will end when the commander in chief determines the military objectives have been met fully realized, and that Iran is in a position of complete and unconditional surrender,” Leavitt told reporters.
According to Leavitt, unconditional surrender equates to Trump determining that Iran’s “threats will no longer be backed by a ballistic missile arsenal that protects them from building a nuclear bomb in their country.”
Democrats, however, have cast doubt that the war will end anytime soon. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters that he was left with more questions than answers after a Senate Armed Services Committee briefing on Iran.
“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives,” Blumenthal said Tuesday.
The Trump administration quickly pushed back against those assertions.
“As for boots on the ground, the president has talked about this repeatedly, wisely, he does not rule options out as commander in chief,” Leavitt said. “So again, I would hesitate to confirm anything that a Democrat on Capitol Hill says right now about the president’s thinking.”
GOP strategist Jason Cabal Roe said the next few days and weeks will determine whether this war will either affect Trump’s legacy and the party’s control of Congress or help sink Republicans.
“How it plays out for the midterms depends on how it ends, and if it ends, if this is as the president is saying,” said Roe, who has worked on past presidential campaigns.
If the war “ends relatively quickly, and we’ve decapitated Iran, we’ve united the Middle East, we’ve put a dent in China’s access to illegal oil from not just Iran, but also from Venezuela, then I think this thing will be viewed relatively positively and seen as a foreign accomplishment,” he added.
A recent Ipsos poll found that 60% of Americans think the Iran war will go on for an “extended period of time,” while only 36% said it would “end pretty quickly in a matter of weeks.” More than half, 54%, said they were very concerned about risks to the lives of American military personnel, and another 31% were somewhat concerned.
Also threatening the GOP’s chance to maintain control of the Senate is that gas prices have risen to roughly $3.54 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA, the highest since mid-2024.
“The president and his energy team are closely watching the markets, speaking with industry leaders, and the U.S. military is drawing up additional options following the president’s directive to continue keeping the Strait of Hormuz open,” Leavitt said when asked about gas prices. “Rest assured, to the American people, their recent increase in oil and gas prices is temporary, and this operation will result in lower gas prices in the long term.”
GOP political consultant Nachama Soloveichik implored the Trump administration to stick to a consistent messaging strategy that will reassure the public of the wins in Iran.
“People do need some reassurances,” Soloveichik said. “I think the administration can do a better job of giving some straight answers and reassuring people, but they also need to convey everything they have done up to this point.”
Particularly, Soloveichik pushed for a contrast between the Iran war and the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan under former President Joe Biden.
“Under Trump, there’s been several military efforts, and they have largely been incredibly competent, weak-free and impressive operations, and that contrast needs to be out there,” she said. “We are fundamentally changing the Middle East for generations.”
WHITE HOUSE SAYS TRUMP COULD END IRAN WAR WITHOUT TEHRAN’S ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’
Yet the threat of American soldiers in another Middle Eastern war “will be a huge negative,” Roe warned.
“If we’re still bombing around a month from now, then we got problems,” he added.
