CBS poll finds Americans skeptical of Iran war, worried about economy

Most Americans said the Iran war was not going well, and CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto said the frustration reflected more than battlefield headlines. On Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, Salvanto pointed to the war’s length, the way it had been communicated and its impact on the economy as the main reasons public support was fraying.

CBS News polling described by Salvanto on March 22, 2026, showed Americans still wanted several things to happen in Iran. Most respondents said it was important to stop Iran’s nuclear program, ensure the Iranian people were safe and free and end the conflict as quickly as possible. At the same time, most said they did not think the war was going well, and most did not want the current Iranian regime left in power.

The economic lens was already visible in an earlier CBS News poll published June 24, 2025, after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Americans were judging the strikes not only by foreign-policy goals but by domestic fallout, with bipartisan concern about whether Donald Trump needed Congress’ approval for the military action and whether the strikes would affect the economy. That concern deepened as CBS later found rising gas prices and broader cost-of-living worries surfacing repeatedly in polling on the conflict.

By April 12, 2026, CBS News said many Americans believed the war would weaken the U.S. economy in the short term and that they should not have to pay more because of it. In that same polling, Americans said they were feeling worry, stress and anger, and many believed the war was more difficult than Trump had expected. The pattern left a clear political problem for Washington: the public could still support stopping Iran’s nuclear program while resisting a drawn-out conflict that looked like it could squeeze household budgets.

CBS polling also found that Americans wanted the broader goals in the region to be met, including freedom for the Iranian people and an end to the conflict, but did not believe those goals had yet been achieved. That combination of foreign-policy skepticism and pocketbook anxiety keeps pressure on lawmakers and the White House whenever the war threatens oil flows, gas prices or the wider economy.