President Donald Trump’s decision to launch an airstrike on Iran is very unpopular with Americans, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS after the strike.
Research shows that Americans disapprove of strikes between 56% and 44%, surpassing stocks that approved strong approval. Most of Trump’s decisions regarding the use of force in Iran were about six in ten worried that the strike would raise Iran’s threat to the United States.
A sharp partisan division that cuts almost every question asked in the survey: Democrats are widely opposed to the strike, as most Republicans support them, but younger GOP supporters and Republican independences are more skeptical than others in the party.
A majority of independents (60%) and Democrats (88%) are unhappy with the decision to take military action in Iran. Republicans primarily approve it (82%). However, only 44% of Republicans have strongly approved the airstrike. This reflects the strong distrust of some Trump coalitions in military action abroad, which is perhaps much less than the Democrats who are strongly disapproved.
A 58% majority say the strike would make Iran even more threatening to the US. Only 27% believe it reduces the threat, and the rest expects both. Even among those who support the strike, only 55% expect to reduce threat levels.
And few say the US did enough diplomacy before using military force. 32% feel the US did well, 39% feel that it wasn’t, and 29% aren’t sure.
The poll was conducted on Sunday and Monday, with nearly all interviews completed before Iran began a retaliatory strike on Monday against all interviews conducted before the announcement of the US Air Force Base and subsequent ceasefire.
More than half of Americans, 55%, have expressed little or no faith in Trump to make the right decision about the US use of force in Iran. And most — 65% — say he should have Congressional approval for further military action, and 21% say it shouldn’t.
Distrust of Trump’s decision is particularly high among Democrats (88% of them express little or no confidence) and independents (62%), with the president widely saying that Congressional approval for further military action in Iran (88% of Democrats and 67% of independents feeling that it is).
Republicans have expressed more trust in the president, but that trust has also been somewhat softened. 51% say they have a great deal of trust in him to make the right decision about using force with Iran. And the GOP has split over whether Trump should be necessary to get Congressional approval for further action, with 39% saying he needs to.
Americans under the age of 35 are more likely to disapprove military action in Iran than any other age group (68% disapprove). They also express their broadest skepticism about Trump. They are most likely to say they have no faith in Trump’s ability to make the right decisions about the US use of force in Iran (45% feel that way), and they should say they should say they need to get Congressional approval before taking military action (73%).
That skepticism is driven in part by young Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Only 20% of Americans under the age of 45 say they strongly approve of the decision to carry out the airstrike, compared to 53% of Americans who were allied by Republicans. Young Republicans are about 20 points higher than seniors who line up with the party to believe they will raise threats to the US from Iran, and are 26 points less likely to have much confidence in Trump’s decisions regarding Iran’s use of force.
Overall, there is little public desire to send ground forces to Iran, with only 9% being supported, 68% opposed, and the remaining 23% not certain. Even those who support airstrikes against Iran are opposed to sending ground forces with margins above 2-1.
The share of Americans who don’t give their opinions when they give their opinions suggests that public opinion has not yet been fully resolved in the wake of a rapidly evolving situation. The vast majority of eight in ten people say they are following the news about the American strike at least to some degree, but only about a third say they followed the news very closely.