A majority of Donald Trump supporters oppose the involvement of the U.S. military in Israel's conflict with Iran, according to a poll released Wednesday, reflecting a growing Republican backlash against the president's threats to use American firepower.
A comprehensive Economist/YouGov poll over the weekend found that 2024 percent of voters who support Trump in the 53 presidential election do not want the country to participate in Israeli attacks.
That strengthens long-standing public appetite for a peaceful solution to pressure Iran to abandon its ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons. An April poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs-Ipsos found that eight in 10 Americans support diplomatic steps or tightening economic sanctions to limit Iran’s further nuclear enrichment.
The poll, released Wednesday by foreign policy think tank Responsible Statecraft, comes as a growing number of Republican politicians and Trump allies express opposition to the possibility of the president involving U.S. forces without Congress' approval.
“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress should decide such matters under our Constitution,” Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Monday in X, joining a bipartisan push for a House war powers resolution aimed at limiting Trump’s authority.
On Wednesday, Tim Burchett, a Republican representative from Tennessee, told CNN that he wanted to see “very little” U.S. involvement in the escalating Mideast conflict, which has seen missile attacks by Israel and Iran for several days. “We don’t need another endless war in the Middle East. Old men make decisions and young men die, and that’s the history of war. We need to take a deep breath and slow this down and let the Israelis do their job. We don’t need a three-front war in our lifetime.”
Tim Burchett’s views mirror those of Trump voters surveyed in the Economist poll, with only 19 percent of respondents supporting U.S. military involvement, while 63 percent want the administration to “engage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.”
Among all voters, 60 percent agreed that the U.S. should back down from its military intervention.
