Trump Iran military strikes get mixed approval from Americans in new poll

About one in four Americans, but a majority of Republicans, say they approve of U.S. military strikes against Iran ordered by President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

The national survey, conducted Saturday and Sunday by Reuters/Ipsos in the hours after the start of “Operation Epic Fury” by U.S. and Israeli forces against Iran that resulted in the assassination of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also indicates that about half think Trump is too willing to use military force.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they approved of the strikes, with 43 percent disapproving and nearly three in ten were unsure.

Smoke rises above the city after the Israeli army launched a second wave of airstrikes against Iran in Tehran, February 28, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

But there is a partisan divide, with Republicans favoring military action 55% to 32%. The vast majority of Democrats, 73 percent, disapproved of the strikes, and only seven percent said they approved of them. A majority of independents, 44 percent, disapproved of the military attack, 19 percent favored it and nearly four in ten were unsure.

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The poll was taken before the US military announced on Sunday the first American casualties in the operation – three soldiers killed and five others seriously injured.

“I think the polls are very good, but I don’t care. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. It should have been done a long time ago,” Trump said Monday in an interview with the New York Post when asked about the new investigation.

A map of Western strikes against Iran. (Fox News)

The joint U.S.-Israeli operation is expected to continue for several days, with officials telling Fox News that Israel is targeting Iranian leaders, while the United States attacks military targets and ballistic missile sites that pose an “imminent threat.”

The attack plunged the volatile Middle East into a new, unpredictable conflict. Iran retaliated against Israel and other countries in the region. Trump warned of Iranian retaliation on Sunday, saying that if Iran “hit very hard” it would be met with “a force never seen before.”

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The attack on Iran follows strikes ordered by Trump in recent months against Venezuela, Syria and Nigeria.

President Donald Trump is monitoring U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Saturday, February 28, 2026. (@MaisonBlanche/X)

According to the poll, 56% of Americans think the president is too willing to use military force to advance American interests. Nearly nine in 10 Democrats, six in 10 independents and nearly a quarter of Republicans said Trump was too willing to use military force.

Trump, in his interview with the New York Post, emphasized that “this is not a polling question. You cannot let Iran, which is a nation run by madmen, have nuclear weapons.”

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“I think people are actually very impressed with what’s happening,” Trump insisted. “I think it’s a silent poll – if you did a real poll, the silent poll – and it’s like a silent majority,” the president added.

Trump’s overall approval rating in the new survey stands at 39%, down one point from the previous Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-February.