Only one in three Americans back the war against Iran marking the lowest support in a Reuters Ipsos poll since the five month conflict began with most saying President Donald Trump has not clearly explained his goals.

The survey taken Friday through Sunday showed the Republican president approval rating rising slightly to 37 percent up three points from last month when it matched the lowest point of his term.

Trump has listed changing goals for the fight including helping Iranians remove their leaders destroying Iran missile systems and stopping it from getting a nuclear weapon.

The poll showed 69 percent of Americans including four in 10 Republicans believe Trump has not clearly explained the goals of US military action in Iran.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Trump will not base choices on shifting opinion polls and stressed his commitment to keeping Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.

What matters most to the American people is having a commander in chief who takes bold action to keep them safe Wales said.

Support for the conflict has stayed below 40 percent since the US and Israel began strikes on February 28 a sharp difference from the start of other recent wars.

Though each case differed the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011 drew about 70 percent American backing early on while the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2021 had roughly 90 percent support at the outset according to Gallup data.

No Clear Reason for US War Involvement

Public opposition to the war is affecting Trump and his Republican Party ahead of November midterm elections where his allies will defend narrow majorities in Congress.

It is not clear why we started a war with them I have no idea said Alex Womack a retired turbine repair specialist from Stockbridge Georgia who joined the Republican Party partly because he approved of how President George H W Bush managed the 1991 Gulf War.

Womack who served in the US Marine Corps during that conflict said his backing for Trump has declined due to the current war I do not think he is doing very well personally he said.

So far 18 American soldiers have died in the fighting while thousands have been killed in Iran and in Lebanon where Iran backed groups have clashed with Israeli forces.

The war has driven gasoline prices much higher hurting many American budgets with national averages now just over 4 dollars a gallon up from about 3 dollars before the conflict started on February 28.

This puts pressure on the party in a myriad of ways all of them bad said Alex Conant a Republican political strategist and former White House spokesman under President George W Bush The White House officials have been saying since January that they need to win economic arguments It is hard to win the economic arguments when you are clearly focused on foreign policy.

Independent voters in the latest Reuters Ipsos poll said they favored the Democratic candidate for Congress over the Republican by 36 percent to 20 percent Independents also preferred Democrats over Republicans on economic policy the poll found.

Trump Pledged to Avoid Long Wars

While running for president in 2024 Trump promised to keep the US out of long conflicts He first predicted the Iran war would last four to five weeks He has pushed back against comparisons to other wars including the Vietnam War that lasted two decades and took more than 58 000 US lives.

Rhyan Anderson an independent from Fairburn Georgia who voted for Trump in 2024 said he believes Trump should focus on domestic issues instead of aiding Israel or other allies.

My biggest thing is just focus on the people who are actually in the country said Anderson who works two jobs in security and data collection and voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 I know we have allies and things like that but there are a lot of people here that really need help.

Since mid March the Reuters Ipsos survey has asked if people support or oppose military strikes on Iran At that time 37 percent said they backed the war.

That compared to 27 percent approval on the day the war began when the survey also allowed an unsure option chosen by 29 percent.

The latest Reuters Ipsos survey conducted online nationwide gathered answers from 1 246 US adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points either way.