Seven weeks into the conflict with Iran, new polling suggests President Donald Trump is struggling to win over the American public - a challenge one Republican strategist described as his “biggest problem.”
A new survey from Politico found that just 38% of Americans back the military strikes, while a majority say the war is not in the national interest. A plurality of respondents also said they are not confident Trump has clear objectives, “including a notable chunk of his 2024 supporters,” according to Politico.
The findings laid bare what one Republican strategist described as Trump’s core challenge.
“I think the biggest problem is, first, this war was not pre-sold,” Jason Roe, a Michigan-based Republican strategist, told Politico. “[Trump] campaigned against these kinds of policies and these kinds of actions and reversed himself on a dime, and so … the American people were not conditioned to prepare for this thing.”
Polling shows 41% of Americans say Trump does not have a plan for resolving the conflict, while only 27% believe he does. Even among the president’s MAGA base, cracks are emerging, according to the poll, which found that “more than a third of Trump voters say he doesn’t have a plan.”
Roe also pointed to a messaging breakdown as the Middle East conflict continues to drag on.
“I think the number one messaging problem has been that every day we’re told it’s going to end tomorrow, and we’re now nearly two months into that promise,” he told the outlet Friday. While Roe said he views most Republicans as “optimistic” that the Iran conflict will be resolved quickly, he added, “I think the biggest failure is telling us it’s going to be over tomorrow every day.”