When gauging a war, Americans consider at least two important things: what the goals are overseas and its impact back home.
Right now, Americans want a lot of things to happen in Iran: Most feel it’s important to stop its nuclear program, ensure the Iranian people are free, and, now that the conflict is underway, that it would be unacceptable to leave the Iranian regime in power at the end of it.
But it’s also important to end the conflict as fast as possible, they say, with growing economic pressure back home.
Rising gas prices are fueling some pessimism about the U.S. economy more broadly, with concerns about negative impacts on it in at least the near-term, if not the long term.
That uncertainty is underpinned by a rising number of people who feel the Trump administration hasn’t explained things. Most call it a war of choice, not of necessity.
In all, most Americans feel the conflict isn’t going well right now, though it gets continued support from most of the president’s Republican base, in part because they express a lot of confidence in him personally.
Impact on gas prices and the economy
People see the war as impacting rising gas prices, both in the short and long term.
Despite calls by the administration for patience, people don’t think the war will improve the U.S. economy. In fact, most see it weakening it in the short term, at least.
Feelings that the U.S. will head into a recession are trending back up, while current views of the economy have ticked back down.
This comes alongside a sharp upsurge in the percentage of people who’ve noticed rising prices.
In terms of possible patience or making sacrifice, they don’t think Americans ought to be willing to pay more for gas during the conflict.
Evaluating the war
Most Americans don’t think the conflict with Iran is going well so far. It’s predominantly those who don’t approve of the conflict in the first place who hold this view. .
The people who don’t think it’s going well express a collective uncertainty: they don’t feel they’ve gotten an explanation from the Trump administration. Many aren’t sure how long it will last. They don’t see payoffs, not in making the U.S. safer, nor in making the economy stronger.
So what now: How might people evaluate things going forward?
From a list of potential U.S. goals, most important to Americans is simply to see the war end as quickly as possible.
But there are other goals important to most Americans, too, including making sure Iran’s people are free and stopping Iran’s nuclear programs.
And it would be unacceptable to most to end with the regime still in power.
If those desires between goals and a fast end seem contradictory, it connects to the continued call for more explanation from the administration.
Even fewer today than when the war started say the administration has clearly explained the U.S.’ goals.
Just under half think U.S. ground troops will be necessary. Views are roughly split on this, whether one believes things are going well for the U.S. or not.
There isn’t a wider perceived payoff, though, in terms of the nation’s safety. Just over a third think the conflict will make the U.S. safer even in the long term.
There’s also plenty of uncertainty about how long this will last. Most think this will go on for months, if not years. Almost a third aren’t sure.
Disapproval of the U.S. military action in Iran has grown since the start of the war, and the longer people think the conflict will last, the more disapproval there is.
Underpinning that: Americans see this as a war of choice, not a war of necessity.
Backing from the president’s base — but less so beyond it
MAGA remains behind Trump and the war. They have confidence in him, even when they think it might last a long time, and they overwhelmingly approve of how he’s handling the situation.
Contextually, this pattern of support from MAGA is in keeping with what we’ve seen on other matters — across all subjects, including military ones — over the years.
Views of Trump remain central to all this. For most Americans, approval of the war and how it’s going is closely tied to whether they have confidence in him or not.
MAGA Republicans also say Trump is doing what he promised in the 2024 campaign regarding Iran.
President Trump’s overall approval rating is virtually unchanged from before the start of the conflict. It has been at 40% or in the low 40s for many months. He continues to draw strong backing from Republicans.
But on specific measures, including on handling the economy and inflation, he gets relatively lower marks than overall. And he doesn’t do as well with Republicans on those as he does on immigration.
In sum, those approving of the action against Iran are largely Republicans, who have confidence in him, who think the conflict is making the U.S. position in the world stronger, and that it bolsters U.S. safety. They see it as a war of necessity, not choice.
People disapproving of the action tend to be a lot of Democrats and independents without the partisan attachment to the president, who believe it will make the U.S. less safe (in both the long and short-term), and who think it will last months, if not years, or are uncertain about its duration.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 3,335 U.S. adults interviewed between March 17-20, 2026. The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to gender, age, race, and education, based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.1 points.
