71% of Americans Want Congress to End the Iran War, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds — Including a Majority of Republicans
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that 71% of Americans want Congress to pass legislation ending the war with Iran — including a majority of Republicans, a striking sign that the conflict has lost support across the political spectrum just one week after voters handed Democrats control of both chambers.
The survey, conducted online from November 6 to 9 among 1,705 U.S. adults, found support for ending the war at 93% among Democrats, 70% among independents and 51% among Republicans. Forty-four percent of respondents strongly supported legislation to end the fighting, while 27% somewhat supported it and 24% were opposed. The poll carries a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.
The findings land at a sensitive moment. The House is due to vote later on Tuesday on a procedural motion tied to an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war, and the incoming Democratic Congress has promised to force an end to the conflict when it is sworn in on January 3.
A war voters want finished
The poll suggests the Iran war was a central reason for the Republican losses in last week’s midterm elections. Democrats won both chambers in last week’s midterm elections, taking the House and the Senate with their largest majorities since at least 2008, in what Reuters described as a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump’s Republicans over high costs and a deeply unpopular war.
Trump launched the war alongside Israel in February, and he has defended it as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. But the conflict has pushed fuel prices sharply higher, adding to inflation already stoked by the tariffs Trump placed on hundreds of imported goods. Consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, according to the Labor Department, and year-over-year comparisons were impossible because of missing data from the 2025 government shutdown.
Markets have already reacted to signs the war may be winding down: oil prices plunged on Monday after Trump said new strikes on Iran were highly unlikely, lifting U.S. stocks to their best day since April.
Trump said the war was “effectively over” after meeting Qatar’s prime minister on Monday, though no formal ceasefire has been announced and a naval blockade remains in place. He told reporters on Monday that a renewed military campaign was “quite unlikely” and “doesn’t seem to be necessary,” adding that the United States wanted “a long-term solution.”
Tariffs and the cost of living
The poll also found broad support for reversing Trump’s trade policy. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they would support repealing the tariffs on imports imposed by the Trump administration, including 93% of Democrats but only 32% of Republicans.
Cost of living dominated the list of voter priorities. Nine in 10 respondents said cost of living issues should be a focus for Congress during its first 100 days. Smaller shares wanted a focus on issues such as artificial intelligence regulation, immigration reform and climate change.
Democratic leaders have vowed to address cost of living concerns first, and they say they will try to force an end to the war with Iran. Many in the party have also vowed to end Trump’s tariffs. Trump has said the tariffs will boost American industry by protecting it from cheap imports.
Trump at 32%, but Democrats are not popular either
The survey put Trump’s approval rating at 32%, near the lowest level of his political career, with 65% of Americans disapproving of his performance. But the poll offered little comfort to Democrats either: 45% of Americans had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 51% had an unfavorable view. For Republicans, the figures were 35% favorable and 60% unfavorable.
Large majorities in both parties said they wanted the two sides to work together. Eighty-one percent said it was important for Trump to make an effort to work with Democratic leaders, and 74% said the same of Democratic leaders working with Trump. Trump said after the elections that he would “probably” get along with Democrats, but he has also promoted Stephen Miller, a polarizing aide who has called the Democratic Party a domestic extremist group, to be his new White House chief of staff.
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Many Americans also appear wary of Democrats using their new power to launch legal proceedings against Trump. Some 42% said it would be “bad for the country” if the new Congress tried to impeach him, compared with 33% who said it would be good for the country. The rest were not sure or did not answer.
Congressional Democrats are divided on how aggressively to target Trump, including whether to impeach the president or members of his cabinet. Hegseth is expected to face a House impeachment vote this week, following a move by Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who filed eight articles of impeachment on Monday.
Asked which party had a better approach to regulating artificial intelligence, 28% picked Democrats and 20% picked Republicans, while the rest said they were not sure or that neither was better.
Why this matters
The poll gives the incoming Democratic majority a clear public mandate on the two issues that defined the midterm campaign: the war and the cost of living. With a majority of Republicans also backing legislation to end the war, Democratic leaders can argue that ending the conflict is a bipartisan demand rather than a partisan project — a useful argument in a Senate where they will still need Republican votes to overcome a filibuster.
It also raises the stakes for Tuesday’s House votes. The first votes of the day are expected at 5:30 p.m., when lawmakers will decide on a procedural motion to kill or refer Massie’s impeachment resolution against Hegseth. If that motion fails, the House would move toward a real debate and a vote on the articles of impeachment themselves — a vote that, according to ABC News, could pass if every Democrat votes for it and three Republicans join them.
For Trump, the numbers underline how far his standing has fallen since the war began. His approval rating of 32% is near the lowest of his political career, and the poll suggests the war — not just the economy — is driving the decline. Earlier surveys had already shown broad public opposition to the war, and the new poll shows that opposition has now hardened into a demand for Congress to act.
Latest developments
The House is scheduled to take up the procedural motion on the Hegseth impeachment resolution on Tuesday afternoon, with the first and last votes expected at 5:30 p.m. Massie has said that if the effort to kill the resolution fails, the House will proceed to a debate and a vote on the articles themselves.
House Republicans are also holding leadership elections on Tuesday afternoon, choosing a minority leader after losing the chamber last week, while Senate Republicans met in the morning to decide whether to re-elect John Thune as their leader or delay the vote. Neither outcome had been announced by early afternoon.
The lame-duck Congress remains in Republican hands until January 3, when the new Democratic majorities take over. Until then, any legislation to end the war would need Republican support in both chambers — and the president’s signature.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Reuters/Ipsos poll find?
The poll found that 71% of Americans want Congress to pass legislation ending the war with Iran, including 93% of Democrats, 70% of independents and 51% of Republicans. It also found 62% support repealing Trump’s tariffs and put the president’s approval rating at 32%.
When does the new Congress take over?
The new Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2027. Democrats won their largest majorities in the House and Senate since at least 2008 in the November 3 midterm elections.
What happens with the Hegseth impeachment vote?
The House is due to vote on Tuesday on a procedural motion to refer Representative Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee or table it. If that motion fails, the House would move toward a debate and a vote on the eight articles of impeachment. The first votes are expected at 5:30 p.m.
What to watch next
All eyes are on the House floor on Tuesday evening, when the procedural vote on the Hegseth resolution will show how many Republicans are willing to break with the president over the war. The outcomes of the House and Senate Republican leadership elections, expected later on Tuesday, will also signal how the party plans to regroup after its midterm losses. The bigger test comes in January, when the new Democratic Congress takes office and must decide whether to move quickly on legislation to end the war — the step 71% of Americans now say they want.
Sources: Reuters (via TBS News and Devdiscourse); Clash Report / Ipsos topline; Press TV.
