Should Trump have bombed nuclear sites in Iran? What Americans said in a poll

More Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran than approve of it, according to new YouGov polling. Most also believe the attack could lead to a broader war between the U.S. and Iran — which the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose.

The poll comes after Trump ordered airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites on June 21, following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran, triggered by a preemptive Israeli strike.

“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”

The bombing — carried out by B-2 stealth bombers, which took off from Missouri — marks a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government’s long-running effort to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Before the U.S. attack, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned that Iran had enriched uranium, a key ingredient for nuclear bombs, to high levels.

However, multiple experts have stated that Iran was not on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, according to previous reporting from McClatchy News.

Trump’s own spy chief recently reached the same conclusion. In a March testimony before Congress, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said, “The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”

Trump disregarded Gabbard’s assessment on June 17, telling reporters on Air Force One, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having a nuclear weapon,” according to Axios.

Here is a breakdown of the poll’s findings.

Public opinion on bombing Iran

In a June 21-22 YouGov poll which sampled 2,408 U.S. adults, a plurality of respondents, 46%, said they disapproved of Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Meanwhile, 35% said they approved of it.

More than two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approved, while 70% of Democrats and 51% of independents said they disapproved.

Most respondents in the poll — which has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points — also said they believe the president’s decision will likely lead to an escalation of hostilities.

About two-thirds, 67%, said they think it’s very or somewhat likely that the bombing will “lead to a wider war between the U.S. and Iran.” Just 20% said this is not very likely or not likely at all.

On this question, there was consensus across the aisle. Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 65% of independents and 51% of Republicans said the bombing would likely lead to a U.S.-Iran war.

Further, a plurality of respondents, 44%, said the president’s decision will /make the U.S. less safe over the long run. Twenty-five percent said it would make the U.S. more safe.

Here there was a partisan split. Most Republicans, 52%, said it will bolster U.S. security, while most Democrats, 66%, and a plurality of independents, 46%, said it will weaken it.

A separate YouGov poll — conducted on June 22 with 2,824 respondents — found that most Americans oppose war with Iran.

The vast majority, 85%, said they don’t want the U.S. to be at war with Iran, while just 5% said they favor war. Most Democrats (92%), Republicans (80%) and independents (83%) opposed war.

That said, opinions were divided on the question of whether the U.S. is already at war.

A plurality, 39%, said they consider the U.S. to already be at war with Iran, while 32% said it is not. Twenty-eight percent said they were not sure.

Most Democrats, 56%, said they believe war has already broken out. Meanwhile, most Republicans, 54%, said they don’t think the two nations are at war. Independents were more split, with 37% saying war has already arrived and 28% saying it has not happened yet.

The second poll has a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points.

This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Should Trump have bombed nuclear sites in Iran? What Americans said in a poll."