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Some 80% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, think U.S. involvement in Iran "will go on for an extended period of time," according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded Monday.
Just 16% said the conflict would likely end in a matter of weeks.
Trump told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is worth the cost of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the war.
Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent.
Only one in five Americans, and just half of Republicans, think the war has been worth it, according to the poll.
U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to 33%, the lowest level of his presidency.
Just 33% of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump's performance in the White House, while 64% disapproved.
His approval rating, down from 35% in a poll that closed earlier this month, is now tied with the lowest level reached during his first term, in December 2017.
After returning to the White House in 2025 with just under half the country approving of his presidency, Trump's popularity took a hit this year after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside Israel.
The ensuing conflict paralyzed a fifth of the global oil trade, triggering a surge in gasoline prices that is weighing on U.S. households, and on Trump's Republican allies defending their congressional majorities in November's midterm elections, Reuters reported.
Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep inflation in check and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledged the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks. But Iran has proved resilient and has kept oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz largely bottled up even as the conflict has cooled.
Concerns about the war and gasoline prices have Republicans nervous about defending their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the Nov. 3 elections, and Democrats increasingly see the U.S. Senate also within reach.
Reuters/Ipsos polling this month has shown voters prefer Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in about a decade.
The latest poll found 38% of voters think Democrats will handle the economy better, compared with 35% who prefer the Republican approach, which showed Democrats holding a 38%–31% edge specifically on the cost of living, having flipped from a narrow Republican advantage in November 2025.
The Republican approach to immigration has remained more popular than that of Democrats throughout Trump's term, amid a sharp fall in border crossings and a sustained nationwide crackdown ordered by Trump. But Republicans are losing ground amid deadly confrontations and a surge in detainees, including children, Reuters reported.
Some 40% of registered voters said Republicans have the better approach on immigration policy, compared with 38% who picked Democrats. That 2-percentage-point spread is the narrowest of Trump's term. Republicans led by 26 points in January 2025.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online Aug. 14–17 and gathered responses from 1,166 U.S. adults nationwide, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points for all adults and 5 points for subgroups.
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