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Voters are split on US military action against Iran, as most see the country as a security risk.
A new Fox News national poll finds that 61% think Iran poses a “real national security threat” to the United States. That view is consistent with many previous Fox News polls since 2006. A notable exception was when anxiety reached 73% last June, just before the US military mission against Iran’s nuclear facilities called Operation Midnight Hammer.
Even though the majority considers Iran a danger to the country, that concern does not translate into majority support for the current US military action, as 50% approve and 50% disapprove.
In addition, 51% think President Trump’s handling of Iran has made the US less safe, up from 43% last July. 29 percent said he made the US safer. By comparison, when asked the same question about former President Biden in 2023, 50% said his handling of Iran made the US less safe, and 12% said it was safer.
FOX NEWS POLL: BEYOND RED VS. BLUE, THAT GET ME + YOU ACROSS THE POLITICAL DIFFERENCE
Among Republicans, more than 8 in 10 approve of the current US use of force, while only 6 in 10 say the president’s actions on Iran make the US safer.
About 8 in 10 Democrats oppose US strikes and think things are unsafe because of Trump’s actions, while 6 in 10 or more independents think the same about both.
Among voters who have served in the military, 59% approve of US strikes on Iran (39% disapprove). Compared to voters overall, who say the US is less safe by a wide margin, veterans are more divided on the question of whether Trump’s actions have made the country safer (37%) or less (44%).
In a joint effort with Israel, the United States launched strikes against Iran on Saturday morning as part of a mission called Operation Epic Fury. All survey interviews were conducted after the bombing began, from Saturday to Monday.
Trump’s foreign policy performance rating is underwater by 20 points, with 40% approving and 60% disapproving — including 21% of Republicans who disapprove.
Some 43% of voters approve of Trump’s overall performance, while 57% disapprove. In January and December, 44% approved compared to 56%.
Perceptions of how the United States is viewed abroad have improved little since the end of the Biden administration. While a majority of 56% say the country is not as respected in the world as it was four years ago, that’s an improvement from 61% who said the same in 2024 under former President Biden. Meanwhile, 30% say the US is highly respected, up from 23% under Biden and 29% during Trump’s first term.
Two-thirds of voters are concerned that Trump’s use of executive orders and actions without Congressional approval could permanently change the country’s system of checks and balances. The results are almost the same as when this question was asked about Barack Obama when he was president.
The survey also looked at attitudes toward the US airstrike last June on Iran’s nuclear facilities. When asked to think back, voters were split between saying those strikes were a great success (30%) and a failure (31%), but the most common answer was a close call (37%). That is roughly the same as the July 2025 view, immediately following the strikes.
Conducted February 28-March 2, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from the national voter file. Respondents spoke with interviewers live via landline (104) and cell phone (642) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. The sampling error of results between subgroups is high. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can affect the results. Estimates are often used for age, race, education, and geographic variables to ensure that demographics are representative of registered voters. Sources for developing weight targets include the latest American Public Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.
Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.
