President Donald Trump and his allies have touted the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the preliminary agreement to end it as victories, but recent polls suggest that Americans are skeptical that the U.S. is in a better position as a result.

Just 24% of Americans think that the war with Iran was worth the costs, according to the latest poll from Reuters/Ipsos, which surveyed 1,262 American adults across the country over June 18 to 22. Half of the respondents to the poll said the conflict was not worth it, and the rest said they were unsure.

And only 23% of respondents, including half of all Republican respondents, believe the U.S. is now in a stronger position with regard to Iran than it was before the war. Thirty-five percent of respondents think the U.S. is now in a weaker position.

The memorandum of understanding has been scrutinized by U.S. lawmakers over what appear to be significant concessions to Iran, including the unfreezing of billions of dollars of Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund for investment into Iran. Some have also pointed to a lack of explicit language in the MOU in terms of the management of the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns that U.S.-Iran negotiations could lead to further concessions to Iran or a failure to reach a finalized deal.

The MOU has also faced heavy criticism from Israeli officials, who have long said they cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Iran agreed in the MOU to never seek a nuclear weapon, which has always been its stated position, including before the war. Analysts have raised concerns that Israel’s dissatisfaction with the MOU will incentivize it to escalate its attacks on Lebanon in order to jeopardize U.S.-Iran diplomacy. The MOU states that the cease-fire applies broadly to the region, including Lebanon.

Sixty-three percent of Americans polled by Reuters/Ipsos think it is unlikely that the MOU will lead to lasting peace between the U.S. and Iran. That includes around half of Republicans and 80% of Democrats. Only 18% of Americans, including 34% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats, think the deal will deliver lasting peace.

Other recent polls similarly suggest that Americans aren’t convinced that the U.S. has come out of the war victorious.

Of 2,519 American adults surveyed by CBS/YouGov from June 17 to 19, 57% believe the war led to more problems than it solved, while 21% believe otherwise.

Overall, just 22% of Americans believe the U.S.-Iran agreement is better for the U.S. than for Iran, while 37% believe it was better for Iran and 41% believe it’s about equal for each, according to the CBS/YouGov poll. And 69% of respondents do not believe the war was worth the costs, while just 31% do.

“While it is difficult to say that Iran won given the state of the economy and the internal political instability, it’s even more difficult to see this as a victory for Trump,” says William Figueroa, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Groningen. “Almost all of the concessions or changes from pre-war policy are on the U.S. side.”

Americans question whether U.S. achieved war aims

Recent polls seem to show doubt about whether the U.S. has achieved its stated war aim of neutralizing any potential nuclear threat from Iran.

Just 31% of respondents in the CBS/YouGov poll believe that the U.S. has permanently stopped Iran’s nuclear program, whereas 69% said they do not think the U.S. has done so.

Trump officials have gone back and forth on whether they aim to dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile program, which Israel has said it wants to eliminate or severely restrict. In comments last week, Vice President J.D. Vance said, “you can’t tell a country, whether Israel or Iran, they’re not allowed to have any self-defense.”

The Trump Administration has also not expressed a clear goal when it comes to Iran’s leadership, with Trump at times suggesting that the U.S.-Israeli strikes achieved regime change by wiping out several dozen Iranian leaders. At other times Trump officials have insisted that the U.S.’s objective was not regime change. Earlier this month Trump said he “never cared about regime change” and said Iran’s current leaders are “strong, smart” and “rational people” who are “nice to deal with.”

Even so, a majority of Americans polled by CBS/YouGov questioned the success of U.S. operations against Iran.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they did not think the U.S. had stopped Iran from threatening other countries, and 79% do not believe that the war has made Iran’s leadership pro-U.S. Seventy-four percent also do not believe the U.S. has made Iran’s people safe and free, which Trump had promised to do in January when the Iranian government led a deadly crackdown on protesters. 

Respondents were split, however, on whether ending the conflict with the current leadership in power is acceptable.

Figueroa notes that “Trump’s willingness to even discuss ending decades of economic warfare” against Iran is an “encouraging sign” for the Gulf country. The economic concessions are a “desperately needed” boost for the Iranian people who are facing runaway inflation and a collapsing economy, Figueroa says.

Around 37% of respondents believe the U.S. was successful in its military operations against Iran, while 38% believe it was unsuccessful and 25% see it as neither successful nor unsuccessful. In terms of the U.S.’s strategic interests, 29% believe it was successful and 45% believe it was unsuccessful. Americans appeared most disappointed in the economic outcomes of the war, with just 28% believing that the U.S. was successful in its economic interests and 47% believing it was unsuccessful.

Although a majority of Americans—78% of respondents—believe that the U.S. should end the war now, just 34% believe that the MOU was reached because the U.S. has met its goals. Instead, 66% believe that the Trump Administration agreed to the MOU mainly because it wants the conflict to be over.

Still, respondents expressed hope for a quick economic recovery. Forty-two percent of respondents believe that gas prices will drop in the next few weeks, while 35% believe they will stay the same, and 23% believe they will go up. A majority of Americans—60% of respondents—also believe that oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz will return to pre-war levels, while 40% believe Iran will try to block shipments.

Divisions along partisan lines

How Americans view the war is split along partisan lines, according to recent polls. Similar partisan divides existed in earlier polls soon after the war began.

Just 34% of Americans approve of Trump’s approach to Iran, an Associated Press/NORC nationwide poll of 3,040 adults showed. But most Republicans hold more positive views of the Administration’s handling of the conflict than Democrats or Independents do: 71% of Republicans approve of Trump in terms of Iran, as compared to 22% of Independents and 8% of Democrats. Just 35% of Americans approve of Trump’s policy towards Israel, which includes 71% of Republicans, 23% of Independents, and just 9% of Democrats that approve.

Only 19% of Republicans believe that U.S. military action against Iran went too far, while 42% feel it went just far enough, and 37% believe it has not gone far enough. By contrast, 82% of Democrats and 56% of Independents believe U.S. action has gone too far.

The survey took place from June 11 to June 17, meaning that some responses were collected before Trump announced that a U.S.-Iran agreement had been reached on June 14.

Among Republican voters there are also differences in opinion towards the war. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans believe that the MOU was better for the U.S., compared to 19% that believe it was better for Iran, according to the CBS/YouGov poll. Comparatively, 47% of MAGA Republicans believe the MOU was better for the U.S., while 12% believe it was better for Iran. The remaining respondents believe the MOU was equally beneficial to the U.S. and Iran.

Trump’s approval rating at lowest of second term

Trump’s approval ratings have dropped to their lowest of his second term. At the start of his second term, Trump had a 47% approval rating based on a Reuters/Ipsos poll in January 2025. That has slipped to 34% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, tying with his second-term record low approval rating in late April.

CBS/YouGov polls have shown a similar result: Trump’s approval has fallen steadily from 53% last February to 38% in the latest poll.

Americans showed even more disapproval of how the Trump Administration has managed cost-of-living. Trump’s approval rating on the cost-of-living stood at 22% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, similar to its levels in polls taken through April and May.

Those numbers could be a cause for concern for Republicans as affordability has become a key issue for voters in the midterm elections. Progressive Democrats who ran on campaigns centered on affordability and economic equality have won several key contests in Democratic primaries, including in New York on Tuesday, signaling that voters are prioritizing economic issues.

The AP/NORC poll, however, suggests that public opinion of Trump has not changed significantly over the course of the war. Just over a third approve of the way Trump is handling his job, which is unchanged from an earlier poll in May and another before the war began in February.

There is also a partisan divide in terms of Trump’s approval ratings, according to the AP/NORC poll. Around 78% of Republicans approve of Trump, while just 26% of Independents and 7% of Democrats approve of him. 

In terms of the economy, Trump has an overall approval rating of 33%. Broken down by party affiliation, 69% of Republicans, 23% of Independents and 7% of Democrats approve of the job Trump has done for the economy.