Iranupdated 49m ago3 min read
Trump’s Iran War Faces Domestic Backlash Ahead of U.S. Midterm Elections
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Trump weighing renewed strikes on Iran amid domestic opposition and economic pressure Midterm politics tied to Iran war; polls show public dissatisfaction
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Polls and a domestic challenge
US President Donald Trump’s defeat has turned into a domestic challenge as public dissatisfaction grows over the US war waged against Iran and the issue could impact the political standing of the Republicans ahead of the congressional midterm elections. The same Pew Research Center poll found 52 percent of Americans have little or no confidence that the Trump administration will achieve its goals in the confrontation with Iran. 47 percent of participants predict that U.S. military action against Iran will continue for more than another year, while 30 percent expect the situation to last between six months and a year.
73 percent of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about rising gasoline and fuel prices resulting from a conflict with Iran, and 71 percent expressed concern about the injury or death of American troops. 73 percent of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about rising gasoline and fuel prices resulting from a conflict with Iran, and 71 percent expressed concern about the injury or death of American troops.
Justifications, protests, and escalation
President Trump is seeking, as the midterm elections on November 3 approach, to find justification for continuing military operations and the state of alert in the absence of a decisive settlement on the Iran war.
Trump claimed that 75,000 protesters had been killed in Iran by the regime over seven months and described the regime as “truly evil.”
Trump quoted writing on his Truth Social page: “They keep killing the protesters and everyone who stands in their way. I can only hope that the American people and the world at large realize how evil they are! Seventy‑five thousand protesters have been killed in less than seven months.”
Trump is studying a return to a military campaign against Iran through strikes that would last several days, in a gamble that sanctions and the blockade have driven the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse.
Trump responded to a journalist’s question before boarding Air Force One with: “Something will happen soon, one way or another,” without revealing the nature of the anticipated step.
Campaign pressure and midterm stakes
The first question in a US Senate debate in Michigan between Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his Republican rival Mike Rogers was about the issue that appears to matter most to voters, the economy, and El-Sayed linked it to the US-Israel war on Iran. El-Sayed said on Wednesday, “Right now, the cost of gas, the cost of groceries, it all really goes back to this war in Iran,” and he called for a War Powers Resolution rather than a senator who wants to stand hip-to-hip with Donald Trump on this war. IGA released a survey last month suggesting that 60 percent of potential voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war, and it said 81 percent agreed the conflict has raised the cost of living.
The November 3 poll will serve less as a traditional contest and more as a direct referendum on President Donald Trump’s performance over the first half of his second term. Trump’s approval rating fell to its lowest level since the start of his second term between August 28 and September 1, and it said his national approval rating had fallen to 35% with 59% disapproval by August 31.