Poll suggests only a quarter of Americans support attacks on Iran
By Al Jazeera, March 2, 2026A poll conducted in the hours after the United States and Israel launched a major military operation against Iran, sparking regional retaliation, shows dismal approval for the strikes from the US public.
The Reuters Ipsos poll was conducted beginning on Saturday, February 28, 2026, and closing on Sunday, before the administration of President Donald Trump announced that the first US troops had been killed in the conflict. Only one in four respondents approved of the US-Israeli attacks.
The early findings could have a significant effect on how the Trump administration moves forward in the days ahead and on how lawmakers respond to the attacks, particularly as they look to a punishing midterm election season.
Trump promised to continue what he described as a “righteous mission” until “all objectives are achieved”. Referencing the three US military members announced killed on Sunday, Trump said that “there will likely be more before it ends”.
After a US-Israeli strike killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Trump again framed Iran as an existential threat to the US, claiming that the country’s leaders “have waged war against civilisation itself”.
The Reuters-Ipsos poll suggested that the US public does not share that view, with 43 per cent of respondents disapproving of the war and another 29 per centunsure.
Approval among Republicans was strongerbut not resounding, with 55 per cent approving of the strikes, 13 per cent disapproving, and 32 per cent unsure.
Perhaps most significantly, about 42 per cent of Republicans said they would be less likely to support the operation if it led to “US troops in the Middle East being killed or injured”.
About 74 per cent of Democrats disapproved of the strike, with 7 per cent approving and 19 per cent unsure.
Midterms loom
The poll released on Sunday, March 1, 2026, comes as Republican lawmakers have largely coalesced around Trump’s message on Iran, even as its contradiction to Trump’s campaign promises risks alienating his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.
Trump had run on a pledge to cease “endless wars” and halt US interventionism abroad in an “America First” pivot.
While Trump has shown a unique ability to shape the views of his staunchest supporters in his likeness, some conservative commentators have warned that he is playing with fire.
“If this war is a swift, easy, and decisive victory, most of them will get over it,” Blake Neff, a former producer for late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, wrote on X on Saturday.
“But if the war is anything else, there will be a lot of anger.”
He added that “success can override bad explanations. So we must pray for success.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said the confirmation that US soldiers had been killed “brings home the cost of the war”.
“Americans, by a very large margin, don’t want to be tied up in an ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” he said during a television interview.
“The fact that Americans have died suddenly shows this is not just a video game from the standpoint of America.”