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As President Donald Trump announced a deal brokered between Israel and Iran on Monday evening, new polling shows that a plurality of Americans disapproved of his military strikes on Iran last weekend, and that very few voters have confidence that the conflict will not escalate.
The Reuters/Ipsos polling, conducted after Trump ordered the military operation against Iran on Saturday but before he announced a supposed truce between the two sides on Monday, found that only 36 percent of Americans view the U.S. airstrikes positively, while 45 percent said they were opposed to them. Nineteen percent said they were unsure of how they felt.
When asked whether they had concerns about the conflict growing, the answers from respondents were more uniform, with 84 percent saying they were concerned about that possibility and only 15 percent saying they were not.
Perhaps because of Trump’s actions within the conflict, his approval rating reached an all-time low within Reuters/Ipsos polling during his second term in office so far. According to the most recent poll, just 41 percent of Americans approve of his job performance at this time, with 57 percent disapproving, resulting in a net -16-point approval rating. The next-lowest net rating for Trump, at -12 points, was found in a Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month.
Despite concerns from most Americans that the conflict would escalate, Trump announced a tepid ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran on Monday evening.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
By Tuesday morning, it was unclear how strong that agreement was, with Trump even acknowledging that fact.
“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” Trump wrote in a subsequent post.
As the Israeli military appeared to be conducting more missions, Trump lashed out, demanding that they halt their operations against Iran.
“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Trump wrote.
Speaking to reporters as he was departing the White House Tuesday morning for a NATO summit at The Hague, Trump condemned both countries for violating the truce he had bragged about brokering less than 24 hours earlier.
“There was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard after the time limit and now Israel is going out. These guys [have] got to calm down,” Trump said.
He then uttered an expletive out of frustration with both countries’ failure to abide by his demands.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump said.
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