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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Polling Wednesday showed that support for President Donald Trump's war in Iran was nearly evenly split among American voters, as questions remained over the path forward for the U.S. in the Middle Eastern country.
Two different surveys shared by Fox News and Politico's Playbook suggested support for U.S. strikes had risen to parity with opposition, even as a majority continued to see Iran as a national security threat, and many voters expressed concern that the president’s handling of Iran had made the United States less safe, underscoring the political crosscurrents around the conflict and the administration’s rhetoric.
Why It Matters
President Trump ran a presidential campaign which promised an end to the U.S. starting wars and becoming embroiled in lengthy conflicts, particularly in the Middle East. However, during his first 13 months back in the White House, he has chosen a different path, seeking to assert the United States' dominance on the world stage as a nation aiming to end conflicts.
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The strikes on Iran over the past weekend, and the mixed-messaging over the reasons for them, have caused concern among his MAGA base, Democrats, and other world leaders.
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What To Know
The Fox News survey reported that 51 percent of voters believed Trump’s handling of Iran had made the United States less safe, while 29 percent said he had made it safer, and it put approval of the president’s foreign policy at 40 percent approve and 60 percent disapprove.
The same poll found veterans more supportive of the strikes than voters overall, with 59 percent approving and 39 percent disapproving, while views among independents aligned more with Democrats in skepticism about safety under Trump’s approach to Iran.
Politico’s Playbook summarized the OnMessage poll as showing support and opposition essentially tied at 49 percent to 48 percent, and noted that the result ran ahead of Trump’s own favorability measured in the same survey at 45 percent positive and 54 percent negative, suggesting the sample did not skew pro-Trump.
Earlier, a CNN/SSRS poll showed Americans largely opposed to sending ground troops into Iran, with 60 percent opposed, 12 percent in favor, and 28 percent unsure, underscoring a bright red line for escalation beyond air and missile operations.
Fox News said Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) conducted interviews with 1,004 registered voters from February 28 to March 2, 2026, via live landline and cellphone interviews and online completes after text outreach, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and higher for subgroups.
Politico’s Playbook reported topline figures from an OnMessage poll shared with the outlet; full methodological details including sample size, dates, and mode were not included in the Playbook item.
What People Are Saying
**Tucker Carlson, conservative commentator and former Fox News host, said on his podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show: “**This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war. This war is not being waged on behalf of American national security objectives to make the United States safer or richer."
President Donald Trump told journalist Rachael Bade: “MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing—every aspect of it."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, condemned the strikes in a post to X: “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.”
What Happens Next
Congress prepared Wednesday to debate bipartisan war powers resolutions aimed at constraining operations in Iran as the administration argued the campaign would degrade Iran’s missile capacity and block nuclear advancement.
The White House signaled the timeline could extend beyond four to five weeks depending on conditions, and defense leaders warned of likely additional U.S. casualties as Iran and its proxies respond.
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