Two high-quality polls have surveyed Americans twice since the U.S. first attacked Iran on Feb. 28, giving the ability to see if opinion has shifted since the war first started.
One poll found opinion not shifting, the other found an increase in those saying strikes should continue, but that was still a minority opinion. Andbothfound that nearly two-thirds said that President Donald Trump has not clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.
AnIpsos pollconducted March 6-9 found 29% of Americans approving of the U.S. strikes in Iran and 43% disapproving, 14 points underwater. Those opinions are almost identical to aReuters/Ipsos pollconducted February 28-March 1 that found 27% approving and 43% disapproving, 16 points underwater. Large shares said they were unsure both times: 26% now and 29% earlier.
The more recent poll found 66% of Republicans approving of the strikes, up from 55% previously. Approval among independents was also up, from 19% to 23%. Democrats' opinions barely budged.
ANew York Times analysisfound that U.S. support for strikes in Iran is lower than it has been for the beginning of previous conflicts.
Ipsos' polling also found more Americans have heard about the strikes now than immediately after the U.S. first hit Iran. Now, 51% say they have heard "a lot" about the U.S. military strikes against Iran, up from 29% previously.
Majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents said they had heard a lot about the strikes in the most recent poll.
The current Ipsos poll also finds 6 in 10 Americans saying that U.S. military involvement in Iran will "go on for an extended period of time" compared with just over one-third who said U.S. military involvement in Iran will "end pretty quickly in a matter of weeks."
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Nearly two-thirds (64%) said Trump has not clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran. Two-thirds (67%) said they expect gas prices to get worse over the next year as a result of U.S. military action in Iran and about half (49%) said that the action in Iran will have a mostly negative impact on their own personal financial situation.
AWashington Post pollconducted March 6-9 found a larger minority of Americans saying the U.S. should continue strikes on Iran than in aMarch 1 poll they conducted. The most recent poll found 34% of Americans saying the U.S. should continue strikes, up from 25% on March 1. A larger share, 42%, said in the recent poll the U.S. should "stop strikes at this time," down from 47% the day after strikes began. The more recent poll found 24% saying they were unsure; it was 28% in the previous poll.
Support for continuing strikes was up among Republicans (from 54% to 66%) and independents (from 16% to 27%). A 71% majority of Democrats said stops should strike, down slightly from 76% earlier.
The Post poll also found Americans largely split between support and opposition for the U.S. military campaign against Iran, 42% to 40%, with another 17% saying they were unsure. Most other polling has found more Americans opposed to the strikes rather than in support of them.
Its previous poll, taken right after the strikes began, found a larger 52% in opposition, but that poll asked about "President Trump ordering airstrikes against Iran," and the inclusion of Trump's name in poll questions often influences respondents' opinions. More now say they are unsure than they did in the initial poll (9%).
The Post also found nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) saying Trump had not clearly explained the goals of the U.S. military, not a shift from their previous poll. About as many (63%) said the number of U.S. military casualties in the conflict has been unacceptable given the goals and the costs of the war.
TheIpsos pollwas conducted March 6-9, 2026, among 1,021 U.S. adults using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel and has an overall margin of sampling error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. The earlierReuters/Ipsos pollwas conducted Feb. 28-March 1 among 1,282 U.S. adults and has an error margin of +/- 2.8 percentage points.
TheWashington Post pollwas conducted March 6-9, 2026, among 1,005 U.S. adults using SSRS's Opinion Panel and has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points. The earlierPost pollwas conducted March 1 among 1,003 U.S. adults and has an error margin of +/- 3.4 percentage points.