Republican support for the Iran war is waning as polling numbers show the ongoing conflict has become increasingly unpopular.
A July 23-27 AP-NORC survey found that a majority — 64% — of U.S. adults not think the war has been “worth fighting,” the Associated Press reported Thursday. The poll was conducted starting on the final day of 13 consecutive nights of U.S. strikes on Iran.
Fighting resumed on July 28 after the survey concluded, according to a U.S. Central Command press release.
Among those polled, 37% of Republicans said the war was “not worth fighting,” compared to 87% of Democrats and 68% of independents, the AP-NORC data showed.
When asked what the US should do about Iran, 48% of Republicans answered that the “U.S. should continue military action against Iran,” more than double the 23% of total U.S. adults that answered the same, according to AP-NORC. Just 4% of Democrats agreed.
“What matters most to the American people is having a Commander in Chief who takes bold action to keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump is doing,” White House Assistant Press Secretary Olivia Wales told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Americans are already safer for the United States’ bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and the President will not stand by as Iran kills our soldiers, fires at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and breaks the MOU [memorandum of understanding],” Wales added.
When asked to clarify casualty figures from the Iran conflict, the Pentagon referred the DCNF to its Defense Casualty Analysis System. The database showed four Americans died since operations began overseas on July 7. The total casualty count in the war comes to 18, when combined with the 14 Americans lost during Operation Epic Fury.
The Pentagon decreased the death toll from Operation Epic Fury and moved 4 deaths to the new Overseas Operation category of its casualty tracker, according to ABC News.
Meanwhile, approval of Trump’s Iran policy has decreased across all partisan groups. Republican approval fell from 71% in June to 61% in July, while approval among Democrats decreased from 8% to 4% and independent support declined from 22% to 17%, according to AP-NORC.
Trump’s overall job approval also dropped to 33% in AP-NORC’s July poll. This is down from 37% according to the AP’s June poll.
Notably, about seven in ten Americans, 72%, answered that it is “extremely or very important” to “prevent US oil and gas prices from rising,” AP-NORC data showed.
The national average for gasoline stands at $4.10 a gallon, roughly a dollar higher than a year ago, according to American Automobile Association (AAA). The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide was $2.98 on Feb. 26, two days before the war broke out.
The Associated Press and the NORC at the University of Chicago surveyed 1,165 U.S. adults from July 23 to July 27. The poll’s overall margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. For Republicans, it was plus or minus 6.0 percentage points and for Democrats it was plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.
(DCNF)