A majority of registered voters disapproves of how President Donald Trump is handling the situation in Iran and believes the U.S. should not have taken military action against the country, according to a new NBC News poll.
Though support for the White House is mostly polarized along party lines, a small but notable slice of Republicans is unhappy with the decision to launch a war in the Middle East. There was also a significant split between younger and older voters in the early days of the attacks.
Fifty-four percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran, compared to 41% who approve and another 5% say they either don’t have an opinion or aren’t sure. A similar share, 52%, say the U.S. should not have taken the military action, while 41% say it should have and 7% say they aren’t sure.
The poll provides an initial snapshot of how American voters are digesting a major new military endeavor launched by a president who campaigned against past “endless wars” when seeking a return to the White House in 2024.
“This is a lower level of support than in most of the major military action that we’ve seen,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted the poll along with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates.
“Attitudes shift in this country based on results,” McInturff added. “Things could get worse if the results are worse and things can certainly get better if there’s a stable, better outcome here.”
The survey first began testing sentiment regarding the strikes on Saturday, hours after the U.S. government announced the beginning of its campaign, and it was in the field amid a series of important new developments — including the news that the strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that six U.S. servicemembers were killed, that Iran retaliated by launching strikes on U.S. allies in the region and that Americans are scrambling to get out of the Middle East.
The Trump administration has signaled the strikes will continue to ramp up in the coming days, and more developments could bring additional shifts in public sentiment, as Republicans and Democrats in Congress debate the implications and potential results of the U.S. undertaking its most significant military action in years.
The president and his allies have argued the strikes were essential to protect Americans from “imminent threats,” accusing Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon and being unable to deter the country through diplomatic negotiations. Many Democrats in Congress have blasted the move, castigating the president for what they have framed as a war of choice, not necessity.
The results show clear, if expected, partisan polarization on the issue: An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 89%, say the U.S. should not have struck Iran. Among independents, 58% agree.
Republicans are overall more supportive of the strikes: 77% say the U.S. should have struck Iran, while 15% disagree. But there’s a significant divide between Republicans who consider themselves aligned with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement and those who do not.
A full 90% of self-identified MAGA-aligned Republicans back the strikes, with just 5% saying they don’t think they should have been launched. But Republicans who don’t see themselves as part of MAGA are more divided, with 54% supporting the strikes and 36% against.
Margins of error are larger for these smaller subgroups, but the results still point to significant differences between different parts of the party. Trump framed much of his 2024 presidential campaign around the idea of an “America First” approach to foreign policy that was deeply critical of past administrations he claimed thrust the country into endless conflict around the globe. Now, the Republican base is wrestling with the new conflict.
McInturff said the divide within the GOP was an important reminder about both the loyalty of the president’s base and the portion of the party that’s “softer” on Trump.
“The self-identified MAGA Republicans are incredibly supportive of Trump and that political base has so far been unshaken — and so far, surely, has been unshaken to date about military action in Iran,” he said.
Last June’s NBC News Decision Desk Poll found a similar split when testing Trump’s last major military action against Iran. Though there was some concern about that bombing campaign among prominent MAGA-aligned figures, that poll of adults in the U.S., including voters and nonvoters, showed rank and file MAGA-aligned Republicans were largely in favor of the president’s 2025 military action. Meanwhile, those who identified themselves more as institutional Republicans were still supportive, but by a smaller margin.
The new NBC News poll also shows a deep divide on the Iran war by age, with younger voters far more sour on the strikes than older voters.
Two-thirds of voters under 35 years old say the U.S. should not have struck Iran, a sentiment shared by 53% of those between the ages of 35 and 49. A slim majority, 52%, of those between 50 and 64 years old support the strikes, while those 65 and older are split.
There is also an educational divide in the survey — an increasingly common feature of polarized American politics. Voters without a college degree are about evenly split on the strikes, while those with a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree overwhelmingly believe the U.S. should not have struck Iran.
And there is a significant gender divide too, with 60% of women saying the U.S. should not have taken military action against Iran, compared to 52% of men who believe the U.S. should have struck Iran.
Negative public sentiment about the U.S. military action is not driven by any warm feelings toward Iran. Overall, 61% of registered voters view Iran negatively, while just 8% have positive views of the country. Another 28% view Iran neutrally.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters Feb. 27-March 3 via a mix of telephone interviews and an online survey sent via text message. The margin of error for the full poll is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Most questions about the war in Iran were asked of 753 registered voters starting on Feb. 28, and those questions have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
