A new poll shows that Americans’ support for the ongoing war with Iran has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the conflict, at 31%, compared to 37% in March and 34% at the beginning of the month.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll attributed this decline to a significant drop in Republican support for the war, with 69% of them supporting the continuation of military operations, compared to 77% in March, at a time when Trump is suffering from the war's repercussions on his public image, amid growing concerns that it will last for a long time, with 83% of Americans believing that the war will continue for an extended period, up from 80% at the beginning of the month.
These figures come at a time when the Trump administration is facing increasing pressure due to gasoline prices being more than a dollar a gallon higher than before the war, which is weighing heavily on Republican allies who are preparing for the midterm elections in November, with independent voters showing a 33% to 19% preference for Democrats over Republicans in the congressional elections.
Despite Trump's pledge to escalate economic pressure on Iran, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent's threat to expand sanctions on countries dealing with Tehran, the reluctance to impose actual sanctions reflects the complexity of the situation and the administration's faltering efforts to find a way out of the crisis, at a time when the de facto Iranian embargo on oil exports from the region continues, keeping fuel prices high and threatening to increase economic pressure on the US administration ahead of the elections.
