A slim majority of voters support impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the unauthorized Iran war, a new poll found.
The Economist/YouGov poll, conducted Sept. 18-21, found that 51% of voters support impeaching Mr. Hegseth “for starting a war with Iran without authorization by Congress,” while 36% oppose such a move and others were unsure.
Broken down by party, 77% of Democrats, 55% of independents and 22% of Republicans support impeachment.
The poll results follow Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, filing articles of impeachment against Mr. Hegseth last week.
The articles charge Mr. Hegseth with waging unlawful wars against Iran and Yemen, ignoring laws designed to “minimize civilian casualties,” illegally kidnapping the leader of Venezuela, unlawfully killing suspected drug traffickers and suppressing the free speech of Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat.
The poll focused only on the charge that Mr. Hegseth led an unauthorized war against Iran.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 limits administrations from engaging in armed conflicts against a foreign nation for more than 60 days without congressional approval.
The Trump administration, which argues the law is an unconstitutional attempt to override the president’s authority as commander in chief, has not asked for or obtained congressional authorization for the war, now in its seventh month.
Congress has passed a concurrent resolution requiring the Trump administration to terminate hostilities with Iran, but that has not changed the administration’s posture.
The poll showed that 63% of voters support ending the Iran war as soon as possible, slightly more than the 59% who said starting the war was the wrong decision.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in response to a request for comment that “Secretary Hegseth has been a transformative leader.”
“Standards and merit are back, our arsenal is stronger than ever before, and morale and recruitment across every service are at all-time highs,” Ms. Wilson said. “Secretary Hegseth has slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way. By every measurable metric, the Department of War is better under Secretary Hegseth’s leadership than before. The entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision and will continue working to put our warfighters and America first.”
Mr. Massie tried to force a vote on his resolution to impeach Mr. Hegseth by raising a question of privilege of the House, which gives House leaders two legislative days to consider the measure. He brought the question to the floor last Tuesday, meaning the House would have had to vote by last Thursday.
But GOP leaders adjourned the chamber last Wednesday, a day earlier than planned, to avoid having to hold the vote until Nov. 9, the next day the House is scheduled to be in session and voting.
Mr. Massie posted the poll results showing the majority of voters support impeaching Mr. Hegseth to his X account on Tuesday.
“This is why @Speaker Johnson adjourned Congress to avoid the vote and why the President isn’t defending @SecWar,” he posted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, has called Mr. Massie’s move to impeach Mr. Hegseth “a publicity stunt” and said Republicans will move to table, or kill, his resolution when the House returns in November.
“Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War,” Mr. Johnson said. “We’re in the middle of international conflicts right now. We should not be playing games with national security, and I think that’s how the members see it.”
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.