Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the Iran war has not been worthwhile, according to a poll released Thursday, as President Trump considers harsher strikes or a diplomatic exit to the conflict.
The AP-NORC poll found only 33% of Americans thought the war was worth fighting, while 64% did not.
There is a clear partisan divide in attitudes about the conflict, which is entering its sixth month.
Pollsters said 96% of Democrats strongly disapprove of Mr. Trump’s handling of Iran, while 61% of Republicans approve — a decrease from 71% in June.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28 to prevent the Tehran regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon and constrain its support for terror proxies in the Middle East.
Iran retaliated by striking U.S. allies in the Gulf region and clamping down on oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in global energy shocks.
The conflict has gone through multiple cycles of violence and attempts at diplomacy.
U.S. Central Command reported it completed dozens of strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran on Wednesday in response to a surprise attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.
Mr. Trump has rejected criticism of his decision to go to war with Iran, saying the Islamic regime has been a global bully for nearly half a century and the world could not entertain the possibility it might get a nuke.
He says any near-term economic pain will be worth his goal of stopping Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Democrats are leaning into the war’s unpopularity ahead of November’s midterm elections, saying the president is stuck on social media and detached from the real-world costs.
“As Trump plays keyboard warrior on Truth Social in his war with Iran, our men and women in uniform are risking their lives on the front lines,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Thursday. “This aimless war has been one of the greatest foreign policy catastrophes in American history, and Trump’s mess only gets worse with every passing hour.”
The American public is split about what the U.S. government should do next.
Nearly a quarter, or 23%, think the U.S. should continue military action, while 23% say it should stop attacking, the pollsters said.
Three in 10 think the U.S. should stop fighting and pursue a ceasefire through negotiation, while 24% say they don’t have an opinion.
While Mr. Trump plots his next steps, many Americans say they’re worried about the higher cost of gas.
Four in 10 Americans point to the cost of gas as a major source of stress in their lives, while 39% say it’s a minor source of stress and 21% say it’s not stressful, the pollsters said.
The average U.S. price of gas stood at $4.10 per gallon on Thursday, a 38% increase from when the war started, according to the AAA motor club.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted from July 23-27 among 1,165 adults. It had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
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