Source: Reuters

U.S. ‌public approval of the war with Iran fell to its lowest level since the conflict’s early days, helping to hold President Donald Trump’s popularity at a record low, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday.

The four-day poll showed just 31% of ​Americans support U.S. military action against Iran, down from 37% in a March Reuters/Ipsos poll and ​34% earlier this month. The decline was driven by fewer self-identified Republicans backing the ⁠conflict. Some 69% of Republican respondents support the war, compared with 77% in March.

The war has been ​dragging on Trump’s public standing this year, and for the second survey in a row just 33% of respondents ​said they approved of the Republican’s performance in the White House, the lowest level in Reuters/Ipsos polls in Trump’s first or second term.

Trump has told Americans that the war – which started with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 – is necessary ​to keep Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. The conflict has cooled in recent months but Iran has ​kept in place a de facto blockade of oil exports from the region, which has pushed U.S. gasoline prices near ‌record highs.

Trump ⁠has vowed to ramp up economic pressure on Iran and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a possible expansion of sanctions on countries doing business with the country, but stopped short of actually imposing penalties, a sign of how thorny the conflict has become for the administration.

FEARS OF A LONG WAR

Some 83% of ​the country thinks the war ​will go on “for an ⁠extended period of time,” the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found, up from 80% earlier this month.

Trump campaigned ahead of the 2024 presidential election on promises to control inflation ​and avoid lengthy military conflicts. Six months into the war with Iran, U.S. ​gasoline prices are ⁠more than a dollar higher per gallon than they were before the war. That is weighing on Trump’s Republican allies who will be defending narrow congressional majorities in the November 3 midterm elections.

That they need to cut their business ties to Iran, or that they would face secondary sanctions themselves.

Independent voters in the poll ⁠favored Democrats ​over Republicans – 33% to 19% – when asked who they would vote ​for in congressional elections if the election were held today.

The poll surveyed 1,215 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error ​of 3 percentage points in either direction.