Most US voters think the war with Iran was not worth the cost, according to a Sunday poll by the Financial Times, with the $67 billion the White House asked Congress to cover war expenses viewed as too high relative to the objectives achieved during the conflict.
According to the poll, 58% of American voters think the war was not economically worth it, while 40% said the war left the US in a weaker position than the one it held before. In contrast, 31% believe that Washington is now in a stronger position following the war.
Additionally, most voters are skeptical about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the US and the Iranian regime, with 66% saying that it will make little to no difference to achieving peace in the Middle East, and some even saying that it would bring more conflict to the region.
In terms of approval ratings, only 36% of Americans approve of US President Donald Trump’s administration, a two-point drop compared with previous polls. Democrats also have a firmer footing heading into November’s midterms, with 44% backing the party compared with 38% for Republicans.
The Republicans are ahead in voting intention, with three-quarters of people who identified with the party saying that they have a voting intention of 8-out-of-10, while only 69% of Democrats and 56% of the independents have that much voting intention.
As Trump heads to NATO, most Americans want to stay in alliance
Another key topic from the poll was the role the US should have in NATO, a question asked amid Trump’s trip to Turkey to participate in the summit of alliance heads of state.
The results revealed that 53% of Americans think the US should remain a member of NATO, while 23% said that America should leave it following the war with Iran.
Trump has been critical of the alliance’s role during the war, calling out Europe for opposing the conflict and banning the use of bases and military assets in the region to support the fighting against the Iranian regime.
The US president even revealed that he had to convince Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not to help Iran during the last conflict.
“He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran, maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
However, Trump said that after he had asked Erdogan, whom he described as a friend, to stay out of the war, he did so.
