A new poll shows declining American approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of foreign affairs and the war with Iran, including among some Republicans, alongside a rise in the share viewing Israel as an enemy. The findings come less than 50 days before the US congressional midterm elections.
Support for Trump’s foreign policy declines
According to the poll, conducted by CNN in partnership with SSRS, only 29% of American adults said they approved of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, while 71% disapproved. This was the lowest approval rating recorded for the president on the issue in the network’s polls during either of his terms in office.
Approval of Trump’s handling of the situation in Iran also fell, with 26% of Americans approving, compared with 33% recorded one month after the war began. In another indication of growing doubts about the policy, three-quarters of Americans said the president did not have a clear plan for dealing with the situation in Iran. The decline extended to Republicans themselves.
In March, 73% of Republicans approved of Trump’s handling of the war with Iran, but that figure has now fallen to 60%. The figures point to a shift in the views of part of the party base that had been more supportive of the president’s policies. The divide was clearest among younger Republicans and those unaffiliated with the Make America Great Again movement, commonly known as MAGA.
Some 53% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters under 45 said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war, while the disapproval rate was 54% among Republicans unaffiliated with the movement. The findings showed growing pessimism about the course of the war, with 78% of Americans saying Trump was not doing enough to end it.
Around seven in 10 respondents also expected the conflict would probably continue for a long time, while 32% considered a prolonged war highly likely—the highest proportion recorded by this measure since it began. Assessments of the war’s cost varied by political affiliation. Some 55% of Republicans said it had been worth the cost, while 97% of Democrats said it had not.
Some 82% of independents took the same view, reflecting a wide gap between the Republican base and its opponents over the conflict’s value and consequences. The shifts were not limited to assessments of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, but also extended to Americans’ views of Israel.
Negative views of Israel increase
A similar age gap emerged, with 23% of Americans under 45 describing it as an enemy, compared with 9% in March 2025. The poll’s findings come as Trump and Republicans step up spending ahead of the midterm elections.
Poll comes ahead of congressional election battle
A Washington Post report said the president’s allies had poured more than 130 million dollars into election advertising in September alone, amid Republican concern that the president’s policies could affect the party’s popularity. That concern makes campaign funding one of the key factors in the contest with Democrats, while Republicans are using advertising spending extensively in an attempt to protect their majority in Congress.
The poll’s findings place foreign policy, the war with Iran and views of Israel among the issues shaping the political climate ahead of the vote.
