Donald Trump’s approval ratings sink as majority say his decision on Iran war was wrong

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu

3 min readMay 19, 2026 02:11 PM IST

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The majority of voters believe that US President Donald Trump made the wrong decision in going to war with Iran, putting the Republican Party on a weaker political footing ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

The poll outcome showed that most voters feel the war was not worth its costs, while also expressing deep pessimism about the US economy.

Amid the “unpopular” Middle East conflict, Trump’s approval rating also plummeted to its second-term low of 37 per cent, according to the poll.

Nearly two-thirds of voters believed that the US going to war was a bad call, including nearly three-quarters of politically crucial independents, the NYT reported.

Less than a quarter of all voters said that the conflict was worth the costs.

Republicans broadly approved of Trump’s performance at his job and the way he handled the war. However, most voters expressed scepticism over his leadership on the economy, cost of living and other issues.

Sixty-nine per cent of the total voters disapproved of his job performance, up from 62 per cent in a Times/Siena poll conducted in January. A rising share of independents and overall voters said that Trump’s policies have personally hurt them.

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Trump confirms Iran strikes, then pulls back at the last minute

Meanwhile, Trump on Monday said that he had directed the US military to launch a new wave of attacks against Iran this week but pulled back at the last minute to allow negotiations after Gulf leaders urged more time for a nuclear deal.

He then put out a post on his Truth Social handle claiming that the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had approached Washington because of the chance of reaching a deal that would be “very acceptable” to the US, and preclude Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“We will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow,” he wrote, adding that forces should be ready for a “full, large-scale assault… on a moment’s notice” if an acceptable deal is not reached.

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