Trump foreign policy poll hits shocking historic lows
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Donald Trump (80) has just been praising his world policy – yet the U.S. president is getting devastating, even historically bad marks at home. The White House has to digest a Trump foreign policy poll which can be seen as a slap in the face – of all days, just as Trump sought to project strength with his major address before the United Nations.
According to a CNN/SSRS poll, only 29 percent of Americans approve of his foreign policy. These are not only the worst numbers of his now two terms in office – they are also lower than comparable ratings for previous U.S. presidents, including his predecessors Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Presidents whom Trump himself likes to publicly denounce as colossal failures.
Trump foreign policy poll: Iran war drags Trump down
What is pulling him down most sharply? No surprise: the Iran war. Only 26 percent now approve of his tactics in the Middle East conflict he launched – with the central goal of preventing the mullah regime from building a nuclear bomb. But the military showdown – initially conceived with hopes of a short, decisive war – is now approaching the seven-month mark. Instead, it increasingly resembles a stalemate, while the whole world is feeling the effects of higher energy costs. CNN’s polling also shows that support for Trump’s handling of the Iran war has fallen sharply, including among Republicans.
The poll also makes clear that many moderate Republicans are turning away from the Iran war and Trump’s generally aggressive foreign policy. Support for the military campaign is now strongest within the core of his MAGA movement – “Make America Great Again” – while younger Republicans and those less closely aligned with MAGA are considerably more skeptical. The new numbers are also significantly lower than in another Reuters/Ipsos poll published a day earlier: there, 34 percent supported the U.S. strikes on Iran.
Midterms loom over Republicans
The Middle East “war quagmire” is weighing especially heavily on Trump’s Republicans in the final stretch toward the crucial U.S. midterm elections on November 3. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, Democrats held an eight-point advantage over Republicans on the congressional ballot – a troubling backdrop for a party fighting to maintain control in Washington. On the campaign trail, two Republican Senate candidates, Mike Rogers in Michigan and Ashley Hinson in Iowa, have now openly called for a swift end to the Iran war. It is a visible break with the president’s current course.
Trump, however, made clear during his U.N. speech that he does not intend to let domestic political calculations dictate his approach. He stressed that military or diplomatic decisions toward Iran would not be shaped by U.S. election strategy. “It doesn’t even enter my mind,” Trump said.
