Americans didn’t largely oppose war. Military strikes in Iran changed that
America’s joint military strikes with Israel are largely disapproved of by Americans. Seeing oil prices rise and President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding American casualties. Views are very different from support for other military actions prominent in the last 25 years.
Various polls last week found that 43 percent to 59 percent of Americans disapprove of military strikes against Iran, which Trump’s administration has dubbed Operation Epic Rage. The results revealed a divide between Americans and Trump over the outlook for the Iran War.
“What will replace the Iranian government and will we have boots on the ground?” 18-year-old Republican Sriram Shanmugam he told The Guardian After the death of the Supreme Leader. “Is there any guarantee that this won’t become our generation’s Afghanistan or Iraq?”
Trump and the White House said the operation was to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and to save Iranians from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the Feb. 28 attack. Trump said the country’s new leader won’t stay in office long if Iranians don’t get the president’s approval.
War in the Middle East
This contrasts with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statements about the war. He told reporters on March 2: That Operation Epic Fury does not include democracy-building goals. During the same briefing, he did not rule out sending troops to Iran.
But public sentiment is not in favor of further military action, as the Trump administration appears to have changed the purpose of the Iran War. Some of these condemnations followed the February 28 US-Israeli attack that killed 175 civilians.
“This is not America’s war, this war is not being waged in the name of American national security goals to make the United States safer or wealthier,” Tucker Carlson said in a March 3 podcast episode.
“Americans don’t want another endless war, and they certainly don’t want to have to fight in one.” Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif.X wrote on Monday. “This is not what the American people voted for.”
Surveys Marist/PBS/NPR, CNN, Reuters/Ipsos, Washington Post, NBC News And Fox News It found just this: An average of 32% of Americans approve of strikes. At least 1,000 American adults responded to each survey.
A Cato Institute review of American sentiment regarding wars in the Middle East in June 2025 showed that a majority did not want another conflict to begin and instead wanted leaders to reach a compromise.
“Americans are seeking peaceful solutions but are also watching global leaders closely, hoping they can prevent the region from being dragged into a broader war,” the statement said.
Wars unpopular among Americans
The lack of support from the American public contrasts with historically positive views of military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf War.
A Pew Research review Americans’ support for the Iraq War showed that: 73% of adults prefer to use force The terrorist attacks took place in the Middle Eastern country four months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In its 2023 review, the research firm said Americans were still affected by the attacks and supported the use of force to oust Saddam Hussein, who was later executed, from Iraq.
The George W. Bush administration justified the US intervention in Iraq by claiming that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. It led to In October 2002, 65% of the public believed That Hussein was close to having nuclear weapons. Additionally, 66 percent of Americans believe the leader aided terrorists in the attacks, although the White House did not provide any evidence.
As the war continued and Bush sought to send more troops to Iraq, support dropped sharply to 31% in 2007.
“The plan has triggered increasing partisan polarization in the debate over what to do in Iraq.” center said in 2007.
The war in Afghanistan, which has become the longest war in US history, started with broad public support. According to a Gallup poll, 90 percent of Americans We support the military operation in the country. The survey was conducted between September and November 2001.
left-leaning think tank The Council on Foreign Relations said in 2021: Consider that most Americans do not think this is a war worth fighting. The war, called Operation Enduring Freedom, achieved its kill goal. Osama bin Laden The person who founded Al Qaeda in 2011.
“The United States has spent more than $2.3 trillion recreating Afghanistan,” CFR wrote. “This blood and treasure cannot be forgotten or regained. On this anniversary, it is worth remembering that strong popular support at the beginning of the war does not guarantee popular support at the end of the war.”
Public opinion on the Vietnam War is changing
One of the wars that sharply divided the country was the Vietnam War. A. Gallup poll from 1965 61 percent of Americans said they did not think it was a mistake for the United States to send troops to the country, 24 percent said it was, and 15 percent were unsure.
The New York Times reported In 1971, more than fifteen years after the war began, 61% of Americans surveyed viewed the conflict as a mistake on the part of the United States. The publication interviewed 1,502 people for the survey.
This reached then-President Jimmy Carter, who in 1977 issued a blanket amnesty for anyone drafted and evading selective service during the war. According to Ministry of Justice archives.
“I thought it was important, in a way, to bring to a conclusion the constant and ongoing debate about the Vietnam War,” Carter told PBS in December 2024. “And even though I spent 11 years of my life in the military, my father was in World War I, my oldest son was in Vietnam. I thought the best thing to do was to forgive them and put the Vietnam War behind us.”
The war began with the support of most Americans, but by 1968 it had reversed itself. Tet Offensive military actionIt caused the deaths of approximately 1,000 American soldiers. The operation prompted news anchors to oppose keeping troops in the Asian country and ending the war. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
