Five months into the war with Iran, the country that is fighting it still has not been told why. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 69 percent of Americans, including four in ten Republicans, say President Trump has not clearly explained the goals of the US military campaign. Barely one in three backs the war at all, the lowest reading since the conflict began on February 28.
The war has never been popular. On the day the strikes started, 27 percent of Americans approved and 29 percent said they were unsure. By mid-March, support had climbed to 37 percent. It has slipped since, and it has now sat below 40 percent for five straight months. The contrast with earlier American wars is stark: about 70 percent of the country backed the Iraq war in its early months, and about 90 percent backed the invasion of Afghanistan, according to Gallup polling. No such consensus ever formed for this conflict.
The poll’s other finding explains why. Trump has offered three different justifications since February: helping Iranians topple their leaders, destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capability, and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Each version has a different aim, a different endpoint and a different definition of victory. Americans notice. Asked whether the goals are clear, most said no.
The costs are mounting in ways voters can see. Eighteen American soldiers have been killed, and thousands of people have died in Iran and in Lebanon, where Iranian-backed fighters have battled Israeli forces. At home, the war has pushed gasoline prices from about 79 cents per liter ($3 a gallon) before the conflict to more than $1.05 per liter ($4 a gallon) now. Every fill-up is a reminder of a war many Americans say they do not understand.
The politics are turning against the president. In November, Republicans will defend slim congressional majorities in the midterm elections. Among independent voters, the poll found, the Democratic candidate for Congress leads the Republican by 36 to 20 points, and independents also favor Democrats on the economy. Republican strategists privately concede the bind: a war without a clear purpose makes it hard to run on the economic record, which was supposed to be the party’s strongest argument this year.
The White House is not conceding anything. Spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Trump will not make decisions based on fluid opinion polls, and repeated the goal of preventing Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon. She said what matters most to the American people is having a commander in chief who takes bold action to keep them safe. The poll, conducted online from Friday to Sunday, surveyed 1,246 US adults with a margin of error of three percentage points.
Trump campaigned in 2024 on keeping the United States out of enduring conflicts. He initially predicted the Iran war would last four to five weeks, and he has bristled at comparisons to Vietnam. Five months later, the fighting continues, the stated goals keep shifting, and two-thirds of the country says it does not know what the war is for. At some point a war without a stated purpose stops being a policy and becomes a habit. The poll suggests most Americans would rather break the habit.