On April 3, one day after Iran shot down an F-15E Strike Eagle and left one American airman missing on Iranian soil, Reuters and Ipsos released a new poll. It found that 86 percent of Americans say they are concerned for the lives of US military personnel in Iran. 56 percent believe the war will have a negative impact on their personal financial situation. 66 percent say the United States should end its involvement in the conflict quickly, even if that means not achieving the goals set out by the Trump administration.
Those three numbers are from the April 3 Reuters/Ipsos poll, as reported by Reuters and Political Wire. They are consistent with a cascade of surveys released over the past two weeks. Taken together, the polling record on the Iran war is among the clearest in modern American conflict history: the public is not with this war.
Trump's Approval: 36 Percent
Trump's approval rating fell to 36 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on March 24, according to Reuters — the lowest level recorded in either of his presidential terms. That was a drop from 40 percent in the same poll taken only days earlier. The four-point drop within a single week represented one of the fastest approval declines for a sitting president in recent Reuters/Ipsos tracking history.
The Hill, covering multiple polls in early April, reported that the Reuters/Ipsos figure of 36 percent was corroborated by a Fox News survey that found Trump's disapproval rating at 59 percent — "the highest level recorded in either of his terms," according to The Hill's reporting. A Fox News poll, released by Fox's own polling unit and reported by The Independent, found 64 percent of registered voters disapproved of Trump's approach to Iran specifically, with 36 percent in favor.
"I do see in the last couple of surveys an edging down… close to a double-digit movement," said Daron Shaw, a veteran Republican pollster who helps run the Fox News Poll alongside Democrat Chris Anderson, speaking to Fox News. Shaw specifically noted declining support among non-MAGA Republicans.
Reuters reported that Trump's approval hit its new low as fuel prices surged, with the poll specifically connecting the two: respondents cited rising energy costs as a primary driver of dissatisfaction. The Reuters survey showed 62 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump's overall performance, per The Hill.
The War Itself: Majority Opposition
Opposition to the war has been consistent across every major poll taken since it began on February 28.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released March 31 found that 66 percent of Americans want the US to end its involvement quickly, even without achieving the war's stated goals, while 27 percent said the US should continue until objectives are met, per Ipsos's own published results. The sample size was 1,021 respondents, per Gazeta Express's reporting on the survey methodology.
The same Reuters/Ipsos tracking found that 61 percent of respondents disapprove of the US strikes on Iran, per Time's March 26 coverage. Only 35 percent approved, per Reuters's March 24 poll.
Time's compilation of multiple polls, published March 26, found consistent majority opposition across methodologies: Quinnipiac University found 42 percent of registered voters believe the war makes the world less safe. Fox News's own polling, notably, found 58 percent of American voters oppose the war — a finding that was widely described as significant because Fox's audience skews more conservative.
The Partisan Split
The partisan divide on the Iran war is among the sharpest documented in any conflict in the polling record. Time's March 26 compilation reported that the Reuters/Ipsos polling found 75 percent of Republicans approve of the US military strikes on Iran, while 93 percent of Democrats disapprove. That 68-point partisan gap is wider than the partisan splits on most major policy questions.
Fox News polling found that non-MAGA Republicans are moving against the war — the "close to a double-digit movement" Shaw described. That matters because MAGA-aligned Republicans have historically been Trump's floor, not his ceiling. If the erosion is concentrated in non-MAGA Republicans, it signals that the broader GOP coalition is not unified behind the war in the way administration statements might suggest.
The administration's own public framing — Defense Secretary Hegseth's invocations of fighting for Jesus, Trump's declarations that the war is "nearing completion" — has not moved the overall approval numbers upward. The war entered its 37th day on April 4 with public approval still below 40 percent in every poll that has asked the question.
The Personal Finance Finding
The April 3 Reuters/Ipsos poll's finding that 56 percent of Americans believe the war will negatively affect their personal finances is arguably the most politically dangerous number for the administration. Presidential approval and war support are abstract. Wallets are not.
Brent crude closed at $109.03 on April 3 — up more than 50 percent since the war began. US gasoline prices have risen in parallel. The war's fuel price impact is not projected; it is already on every gas station sign in the country. When 56 percent of poll respondents connect the war to their personal financial outlook, they are describing something they experience every time they fill up their tank.
That dynamic has historical parallels. Jimmy Carter's approval collapsed in part because Americans connected the 1979 Iran hostage crisis to energy prices during the second oil shock. George H.W. Bush's approval peaked during the Gulf War but eroded rapidly once voters refocused on the domestic economy. In both cases, the connection between a foreign crisis and personal economic pain proved politically decisive.
What 86 Percent Actually Means
The 86 percent figure — Americans concerned for the lives of US military personnel — deserves attention precisely because it is so high. In a country where roughly 40 to 45 percent of people approve of almost any presidential action, 86 percent represents a number that includes the vast majority of Republicans, independents, and Democrats. It is not a partisan finding. It is a nearly universal one.
That number is consistent with the political signal from the Florida HD-87 special election on March 24, where Democrat Emily Gregory flipped a district that included Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate — a seat Republicans had won by 19 percentage points in 2024. Post-election analysis by CNN found that voter turnout was 46 percent Republican to 36 percent Democratic in that race, suggesting Gregory won not primarily with Democratic base turnout but by winning Republican voters. The war's impact on those voters is the most plausible explanation for a 21-point swing in what should have been a safely Republican district.
What the Polls Do Not Show
It is worth being precise about what the polling does and does not establish.
The polls show that Americans want the war to end quickly. They do not show that Americans support Iran's position, or that they would accept a ceasefire on Iran's terms (which include US withdrawal from all Middle Eastern military bases and war reparations). There is no public polling on what terms Americans would accept for an exit.
The polls show that Republican support for the war remains above 70 percent — which means Trump retains a meaningful base of support for the conflict even as his overall numbers have declined.
And the polls were taken before the events of April 3: an F-15E shot down, an A-10 destroyed, two CSAR helicopters damaged, and one American airman missing on Iranian soil. The April 4 through 7 polling cycle will be the first to fully capture public reaction to those events. The 86 percent concern figure may rise further. Whether the disapproval numbers follow remains the most watched political question of the war's second month.
The Numbers at a Glance
- 86% — Americans concerned for the lives of US military personnel in Iran (Reuters/Ipsos, April 3, 2026)
- 66% — Americans who want US involvement to end quickly, even without achieving all goals (Reuters/Ipsos, March 31, 2026)
- 61% — Americans who disapprove of US strikes on Iran (Reuters/Ipsos, via Time, March 26, 2026)
- 56% — Americans who believe the war will negatively affect their personal finances (Reuters/Ipsos, April 3, 2026)
- 36% — Trump approval rating, his lowest in either term (Reuters/Ipsos, March 24, 2026)
- 59% — Trump disapproval rating, his highest in either term (Fox News Poll, reported April 2026)
- 64% — Voters disapproving of Trump's approach to Iran specifically (Fox News Poll, via The Independent)
- 75% vs 7% — Republican approval vs disapproval of US strikes on Iran (Reuters/Ipsos partisan breakdown, via Time)
- 93% — Democratic disapproval of US strikes on Iran (Reuters/Ipsos partisan breakdown, via Time)
- 42% — Registered voters who believe the war makes the world less safe (Quinnipiac, via Time, March 26)