Republican support for Trump’s handling of war in Iran shows cracks in new CNN poll

Daniel Heuer/Reuters/File

Americans’ opposition to the war in Iran has hardened, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS , with almost two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and more saying President Donald Trump isn’t doing enough to end it.

Americans have never held positive views about the war, and nearly seven months after it began, broad majorities say the conflict has hurt US interests, has not been worth the costs and that the president lacks a clear plan to handle it.

The findings come as Trump prepares to address the United Nations and meet with Gulf leaders about the future of the Iran war. They also come as he is confronting a metastasizing crisis with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen .

Overall, 29% of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, a new low in CNN polling across both of his terms as president, while 71% say they disapprove. More see his foreign policy decisions this term as harming America’s standing in the world rather than helping it. Only 26% say they approve of the president’s handling of the situation in Iran, down from 33% a month after the war began.

Much of the decline in approval of his handling of Iran comes among Republicans. Views among Democrats and independents have been steadily negative throughout the conflict. In March, though, 73% of Republicans approved of the way Trump was handling it. Now, that figure stands at 60%. Among Republican and Republican-leaning adults, approval of Trump’s handling of Iran dips into negative territory among those younger than 45 (53% disapprove) and those who say they are not members of the Make America Great Again movement (54% disapprove).

Republicans are also less positive now than they were earlier this year about the impact of Trump’s foreign policies more broadly: About half of Republicans now say that his decisions have helped the US’ standing in the world, down 13 points since March.

Three-quarters of all adults now say Trump does not have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran, and 78% say that he is not doing enough to end the war. About 7 in 10 say it’s at least somewhat likely that the conflict will be a long-term one, including majorities across party lines. About a third, 32%, now see a long-term conflict as very likely, the largest share to say so since the war began.

More say the war has hurt American interests than helped them (70% to 18%), and 76% say the war has not been worth either the toll it has taken in American lives or the financial burden it places on the US government.

Iranian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu/Getty Images

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Democrats and independents are near universal in their negative views of the war, with 97% of Democrats and 82% of independents saying it hasn’t been worth it. And few in either group see Trump as doing enough to bring the fighting to an end. Republicans are more divided on both questions: 55% say the war has been worth its costs, and 53% that Trump is doing enough to end it. But the president’s partisans are far more likely than others to see the US as winning the war: 70% say so, compared with 31% of independents and 13% of Democrats.

The president’s war Cabinet earns negative approval ratings, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at 40% approval, Vice President JD Vance at 36% and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at 34%.

Among Republicans, about 8 in 10 approve of Rubio (81%) and Vance (79%), while Hegseth stands at 72% approval. That edge reflects some dissatisfaction with Hegseth among non-MAGA members of the GOP coalition. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who do not support MAGA, 70% approve of Rubio and 68% of Vance, while just 58% approve of Hegseth.

Americans’ views on Russia and China remain largely the same as they were earlier this year: Broad majorities see each as unfriendly or an enemy, but the poll finds shifting views on several countries that have been a focus of Trump’s foreign policies.

The share who view Ukraine as an ally or friendly has dipped from 76% in January to 70% now. On the flip side, more now see Cuba as friendly than did so in January (26%, up from 21%).

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On Canada, most continue to see the country as an ally or friendly, but the share who consider it an ally has dropped from 51% in March 2025 to 38% now, in the wake of Trump’s tariff war with our northern neighbor. That drop comes across party lines, but is sharpest among Republicans (down 9 points among Democrats, 10 among independents and 23 among Republicans).

And the share calling Israel an ally or friendly has dropped to 61%, while 15% call it an enemy, the highest share to say so in CNN polling dating to 2000 and roughly double the share who felt that way in March 2025. This shift comes largely among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — 17% in that group describe Israel as an enemy, up from 8% in March 2025. This view is also concentrated among younger Americans: 23% of those younger than 45 see Israel as an enemy, up from 9% a year and a half ago.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy and Edward Wu contributed to this report.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by telephone September 16-17 among a random national sample of 1,206 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Daniel Heuer/路透社/档案照片

根据 SSRS 进行的 CNN 最新民调显示，美国民众对伊朗战争的反对情绪日益高涨，近三分之二的受访者表示美国没有赢得这场冲突，更多人表示唐纳德·特朗普总统在结束这场冲突方面做得不够。

美国人对这场战争从未有过积极的看法，战争爆发近七个月后，绝大多数人表示，这场冲突损害了美国的利益，得不偿失，而且总统缺乏明确的应对计划。

这些调查结果出炉之际，正值特朗普准备在联合国发表讲话，并与海湾国家领导人会晤，讨论伊朗战争的未来。与此同时，他还面临着也门胡塞武装（伊朗支持）危机不断升级的局面。

总体而言，仅有29%的美国成年人认可特朗普处理外交事务的方式，这是CNN民调显示他两届总统任期内支持率的新低，而71%的人表示不认可。更多人认为他本届任期内的外交政策决策损害了美国的国际地位，而非提升了美国的地位。仅有26%的人认可总统对伊朗局势的处理方式，低于战争爆发一个月后的33%。

特朗普处理伊朗问题的支持率大幅下降，其中大部分来自共和党人。民主党人和独立人士的看法在整个冲突期间一直持负面态度。然而，今年3月，73%的共和党人认可特朗普的处理方式。如今，这一数字已降至60%。在共和党人和倾向共和党的成年人中，45岁以下人群（53%不认可）以及自称非“让美国再次伟大”运动成员的人群（54%不认可）对特朗普处理伊朗问题的支持率均跌至负值。

共和党人现在对特朗普外交政策的整体影响也不如今年早些时候那么乐观了：大约一半的共和党人现在表示，他的决定有助于提升美国在世界上的地位，这一比例自 3 月份以来下降了 13 个百分点。

现在，四分之三的成年人认为特朗普没有明确的伊朗局势处理方案，78%的人认为他为结束这场战争做得不够。大约十分之七的人认为这场冲突至少在某种程度上会是一场长期冲突，这一观点涵盖了各个党派的大多数人。约三分之一（32%）的人现在认为长期冲突极有可能发生，这是自战争爆发以来持此观点的人中比例最高的一次。

认为战争损害美国利益的人比认为战争帮助美国利益的人多（70% 对 18%），76% 的人认为这场战争不值得付出如此惨重的代价，无论是对美国人生命的损失，还是对美国政府造成的财政负担。

伊朗总统府/供图/阿纳多卢通讯社/盖蒂图片社

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民主党人和独立人士几乎一致对这场战争持否定态度，97%的民主党人和82%的独立人士认为这场战争不值得。而且，这两个群体中很少有人认为特朗普为结束战争做了足够的努力。共和党人在这两个问题上的意见则更为分歧：55%的共和党人认为这场战争的代价是值得的，53%的人认为特朗普为结束战争做了足够的努力。但总统的支持者比其他群体更倾向于认为美国正在赢得这场战争：70%的共和党人持此观点，而持此观点的独立人士和民主党人分别只有31%和13%。

总统的战时内阁支持率均为负值，国务卿马可·卢比奥的支持率为 40%，副总统 JD·万斯的支持率为 36%，国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯的支持率为 34%。

在共和党人中，约有十分之八的人支持卢比奥（81%）和万斯（79%），而赫格塞斯的支持率为72%。这一差距反映出共和党联盟中非“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）支持者对赫格塞斯的不满。在不支持MAGA的共和党人和倾向共和党的独立人士中，70%的人支持卢比奥，68%的人支持万斯，而只有58%的人支持赫格塞斯。

美国人对俄罗斯和中国的看法与今年早些时候基本相同：绝大多数人认为这两个国家都不友好或为敌人，但民调显示，对于特朗普外交政策重点关注的几个国家，美国人的看法正在发生转变。

认为乌克兰是盟友或友好国家的人数比例已从1月份的76%下降到目前的70%。另一方面，认为古巴是友好国家的人数比例较1月份有所上升（从21%上升到26%）。

冈萨洛·富恩特斯/路透社

特朗普称加拿大成为欧盟“联系成员国”可能是一种“敌对行为”。

关于加拿大，大多数人仍然视其为盟友或友好国家，但认为加拿大是盟友的比例已从2025年3月的51%下降到目前的38%，这主要是由于特朗普对加拿大发动了关税战。这种下降趋势跨越了党派界限，但在共和党人中最为显著（民主党人下降了9个百分点，独立人士下降了10个百分点，共和党人下降了23个百分点）。

认为以色列是盟友或友好国家的人数比例已降至61%，而认为以色列是敌人的人数比例则为15%，这是自2000年CNN民调开始以来的最高比例，约为2025年3月持此观点人数比例的两倍。这种转变主要发生在民主党人和倾向于民主党的独立人士中——该群体中有17%的人认为以色列是敌人，高于2025年3月的8%。这种观点也集中在年轻的美国人中：45岁以下的受访者中有23%认为以色列是敌人，高于一年半前的9%。

CNN的Ariel Edwards-Levy和Edward Wu对本报道亦有贡献。

CNN的这项民意调查由SSRS于9月16日至17日通过网络和电话进行，调查对象为随机抽取的1206名成年人。完整样本的抽样误差为正负3.5个百分点。