A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS has found that Americans' opposition to the war in Iran has hardened, with almost two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and more saying President Donald Trump isn’t doing enough to end it. The poll, which surveyed 1,206 adults, revealed that Americans have never held positive views about the war, and nearly seven months after it began, broad majorities say the conflict has hurt US interests, has not been worth the costs, and that the president lacks a clear plan to handle it.
The findings come as Trump prepares to address the United Nations and meet with Gulf leaders about the future of the Iran war. They also come as he is confronting a metastasizing crisis with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Overall, 29% of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, a new low in CNN polling across both of his terms as president, while 71% say they disapprove. More see his foreign policy decisions this term as harming America’s standing in the world rather than helping it.
Only 26% of Americans say they approve of the president’s handling of the situation in Iran, down from 33% a month after the war began. Much of the decline in approval of his handling of Iran comes among Republicans. Views among Democrats and independents have been steadily negative throughout the conflict. In March, 73% of Republicans approved of the way Trump was handling it, but that figure has dropped to 60%.
Among Republican and Republican-leaning adults, approval of Trump’s handling of Iran dips into negative territory among those younger than 45, with 53% disapproving, and those who say they are not members of the Make America Great Again movement, with 54% disapproving. Republicans are also less positive now than they were earlier this year about the impact of Trump’s foreign policies more broadly, with about half of Republicans now saying that his decisions have helped the US’ standing in the world, down 13 points since March.
Three-quarters of all adults now say Trump does not have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran, and 78% say that he is not doing enough to end the war. About 7 in 10 say it’s at least somewhat likely that the conflict will be a long-term one, including majorities across party lines. About a third, 32%, now see a long-term conflict as very likely, the largest share to say so since the war began.
The poll also found that Democrats and independents are near universal in their negative views of the war, with 97% of Democrats and 82% of independents saying it hasn’t been worth it. Few in either group see Trump as doing enough to bring the fighting to an end. Republicans are more divided on both questions, but the president’s partisans are far more likely than others to see the US as winning the war.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by telephone on September 16-17 among a random national sample of 1,206 adults, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll also found shifting views on several countries that have been a focus of Trump’s foreign policies, including Ukraine, Cuba, Canada, and Israel.
Key points
- Republican support for Trump's handling of the Iran war has declined, with 60% of Republicans now approving, down from 73% in March.
- Americans' opposition to the war in Iran has hardened, with almost two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict.
- The poll found a new low in CNN polling for Trump's handling of foreign affairs, with 29% of US adults approving and 71% disapproving.
