Most Americans oppose sending ground troops to Iran

The U.S. war with Iran is unpopular and becoming more unpopular as it continues, the latest Economist / YouGov Poll finds, and few Americans support deploying ground troops to the conflict.

Only 30% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of Donald Trump's handling of the Iran conflict and 60% disapprove, for a net approval of -30. That's down from -19 last week.

28% of Americans strongly or somewhat support the war with Iran, and 59% oppose it, for a net support of -30. Almost all Democrats (88%) oppose the war, while Independents oppose it by a 3-to-1 ratio. Most Republicans support the war (62%), but there's a big gap in support between MAGA Republicans and non-MAGA Republicans (79% support vs. 33%). Because there are about twice as many MAGA supporters as non-MAGA supporters among Republicans, MAGA opinion typically drives overall Republican views.

The war with Iran has become less popular over recent weeks. Net support for the war has fallen to -30 from -23 in the March 13 - 16 Economist / YouGov Poll. Over that time, net support for the war with Iran among Democrats has fallen 2 points, while net support among Independents has fallen by 5 points and net support among Republicans has fallen by 19 points.

Support for the war in Iran among MAGA Republicans has hardly changed over the past two weeks. But non-MAGA Republicans have shifted dramatically from a moderately supportive group two weeks ago — when 56% of non-MAGA Republicans supported the war — to today, when 33% do.

Only 14% of Americans favor sending ground troops into Iran, while 62% oppose this. Almost all Democrats and 66% of Independents oppose sending in ground troops, while Republicans are divided, with 30% in favor and 37% opposed.

Republicans who identify as MAGA supporters are more likely to support than oppose sending in ground troops (41% vs. 27%), but most non-MAGA Republicans oppose sending in ground troops (15% support and 60% oppose).

Americans are more likely than not to doubt the existence of peace negotiations with Iran, with 20% saying there are ongoing peace negotiations and 46% saying there are not. 59% say it is very or somewhat unlikely that the U.S. and Iran reach a settlement in the next month, while 22% say this is likely.

Only 19% of Americans say Trump will back out of the U.S. war with Iran before the U.S. achieves its objectives, while 46% do not expect a U.S. retreat.

Image: Getty (Majid Saeedi / Stringer)

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