Sanders, Kennedy weigh Iran war and 2026 midterms on Face the Nation

Face the Nation put Iran and the 2026 midterms on the same stage Sunday, pairing Sens. Bernie Sanders and John Kennedy with U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and CBS News elections director Anthony Salvanto. The guest list made the broadcast less a routine political interview hour than a snapshot of the arguments both parties are preparing to make about war, costs and competence.

CBS News said the program aired at 10:30 a.m. ET and streamed at 12:30 p.m. ET on Paramount+ and CBSNews.com. Politico’s Sunday listings matched the same lineup, underscoring how the show tied foreign policy and domestic politics together as the conflict with Iran stayed at the center of the national conversation.

The polling backdrop was as important as the guests. A CBS News poll article published Sunday said Americans continued to describe their feelings about the Iran conflict as “uncertain” and “frustrated,” while most said they wanted the war to end and did not think the United States had gotten the better end of the deal. That followed a June 22 CBS News poll finding that most Americans wanted the war with Iran to end.

The earlier polling trend has been steady. On April 12, CBS News reported that few Americans thought U.S. goals were being met in Iran. On March 22, CBS News said most Americans thought the war was not going well, but did not want the Iranian regime left in power. Taken together, the numbers suggest a public that is uneasy with the conflict’s direction and skeptical of a clean victory narrative, even as it resists a return to Tehran’s old leadership.

Waltz’s role on the program also kept the military dimension front and center. In CBS News live Iran-war coverage Sunday, Waltz dismissed reports about munitions supplies amid the conflict as “nonsense,” while talks between Oman and Iran were advancing on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. That route remains vital to global energy shipments, making the conflict a foreign policy test with immediate market consequences as well as political ones.

The mix of Sanders, Kennedy and Salvanto showed how the war is now being packaged for voters as both a governing problem and an election issue. Democrats are looking for an opening in public unease, Republicans are trying to project control, and the polling suggests neither side can count on a simple wartime rally.