Monday January 13, 2020
Washington (CNN)A majority of Americans said they disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran and feel less safe, according to a ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.
The poll shows 56% of Americans said they disapprove of the way Trump is dealing with escalating tensions with Iran while 43% said they approved. The poll was conducted on January 10-11, the same week Iran launched retaliatory attacks against Iraqi bases housing US troops after an American drone strike killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Asked about the US airstrike, the majority, 52%, said it has made the United States less safe. Only 25% of Americans said they felt more safe and 22% said it has not had much of an effect. Thirty two percent of respondents said they are somewhat concerned about the possibility of the US getting involved in a full-scale war with Iran, while 41% said they are somewhat concerned, 20% are not so concerned and 7% are not concerned at all.
Broken down by party affiliation, a total of 94% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans said they were either very concerned or somewhat concerned about the potential of another conflict in the Middle East, whereas only 6% of Democrats and 48% of Republicans said they were not so concerned or not concerned at all.
Similar to the ABC poll, a USA Today/Ipsos poll conducted after the US airstrike on Soleimani, found that 55% of Americans believe the Iranian military leader’s killing made the US less safe.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted Jan. 10-11 and has a margin of error of: +/- 4.8 percentage points
