What Do Voters Think of Operation Epic Fury After Three Months?

(James M. Lindsay – Council on Foreign Relations) The 2026 congressional midterms are now five months away. With voter preferences starting to solidify, whether on who to vote for or whether to vote at all, it is worth looking at the one foreign policy issue with the potential to influence the outcome in November—Operation Epic Fury. In early March, it was clear that President Donald Trump had a lot of work to do to persuade Americans of the wisdom of attacking Iran. The early polls showed that the public was at best split on the idea of attacking Iran. At worst, they showed that a plurality of Americans thought that Trump had made a mistake. As with almost all polls today, the results revealed a deep partisan split—Republicans overwhelmingly gave Trump a thumbs up, while Democrats, and Independents to a lesser extent, gave him a strong thumbs down. This was when Trump was promising that the fighting would end quickly, with a decisive U.S. victory. So where does the public stand after three months since the war began, with a shaky ceasefire now in place and the Strait of Hormuz closed? In a nutshell, the war is even less popular today. An average of national polls shows that 58 percent of Americans now oppose the war, while just 35.7 percent support it. That compares to 47.3 percent opposition and 35.1 percent support at the war’s start. – What Do Voters Think of Operation Epic Fury After Three Months? | Council on Foreign Relations