Are Americans confident in Trump to handle international crisis? What poll found

Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald on Jun 18, 2025

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As tensions boil over in the Middle East, a new poll finds most Americans doubt President Donald Trump’s ability to steer the nation through a global crisis.

The YouGov/Economist survey, conducted June 13 to 16, asked respondents “are you confident in Donald Trump’s ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, or are you uneasy about his approach?”

A slim majority, 52%, said they are uneasy with the president’s approach, while 38% said they have confidence in his capabilities. An additional 10% said they were not sure.

On this question, a massive partisan divide emerged. Most Democrats and independents — 89% and 56%, respectively — said they are uneasy, while most Republicans, 79%, said they have faith in the president.

This divide was even more stark among Trump voters and those who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris, with 83% of Trump voters expressing confidence and 90% of Harris voters telegraphing unease.

The poll — which sampled 1,512 U.S. adults with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points — comes a few days after war broke out between Israel and Iran.

On Friday, Israel launched a preemptive missile strike on Iran, hitting military and nuclear sites across the country. Iran quickly retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles into Israel.

Israeli officials have said their goal is to cripple Iran’s nuclear program, claiming it poses an imminent threat to Israel. Multiple Middle East experts, though, believe Iran was not on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb, according to previous reporting from McClatchy News.

Trump has said he was fully aware of Israel’s plan for a preemptive strike, and suggested he may move to involve the U.S. military in the conflict.

When asked Wednesday about the possibility of striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, he said, “I may do it, I may not do it,” according to The Hill. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

He has also called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and threatened to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has put forward a resolution that would strip Trump of the ability to unilaterally go to war with Iran.

“This is not our war,” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who introduced the measure, wrote on X June 17. “Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”

Most Americans appear to agree.

In a YouGov poll released Tuesday, 60% of respondents said they don’t think “the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran.” Just 16% said they believe U.S. forces should get involved, and 24% said they were not sure.