President Donald Trump may have won over many young men in the 2024 election, but his latest announcement that the U.S. intervened with a military conflict in Iran is not very popular with young voters, according to new polls.
“There’s a huge generational split over war,” said pollster Brent Buchanan in a Monday X post. He went on to say that while 62% of voters over the age of 55 support Israel’s war against Iran, just 40% of those voters under age 55 support it.
Trump announced Saturday that the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites amid ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. Tensions between those nations have been ramping up since an October 2023 terrorist attack on Israel.
Following the announcement, YouGov, CNN and Reuters/Ipsos conducted polls regarding the public’s opinion of the move. All of the polls showed that the decision to bomb Iran was not a popular one, though Republicans generally showed more support than Democrats.
Per the YouGov polls, just 35% of U.S. adults strongly or somewhat approve of the U.S. bombing nuclear sites in Iran, while 46% strongly or somewhat disapprove. Although a poll conducted before Trump’s announcement found that only 23% of Republicans thought the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, 69% of Republicans approved of the attacks.
When broken down by gender, the YouGov results found that men supported the attacks more than women, with 28% saying that they strongly approved of the attacks, compared to 15% of women. When broken down by age, just 12% of people ages 18 to 29 strongly approved of the attacks, compared to 32% of people age 65 and older.
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, “there was a significant gender gap among young voters,” in the last presidential election. Young women preferred former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, to Trump by a 17-point margin, while young men preferred Trump by a 14-point margin. Research has also shown that young women have become increasingly liberal as young men become more conservative.
However, on the subject of the U.S. strikes on Iran, CNN’s polling found that even younger GOP supporters and Republican-leaning independents are more skeptical than others in their party of the attacks. It found that Americans younger than 35 are more likely than any other age group to disapprove of the military action in Iran, with 68% who disapprove.
CNN said that younger voters also express the most skepticism about Trump, who has also hinted at plans for a nuclear deal with Iran.
“That skepticism is partly driven by younger Republicans and Republican-leaning independents,” said the outlet. “Just 20% of Republican-aligned Americans younger than 45 say they strongly approve of the decision to carry out airstrikes, compared with 53% among older Republican-aligned Americans. Younger Republicans are about 20 points more likely than older adults aligned with the party to believe the strikes increase the threat to the U.S. from Iran and are 26 points less likely to have a great deal of trust in Trump’s decision-making on the use of force in Iran.”
Reuters/Ipsos poll results also indicate that Republicans divided on ending U.S. involvement in the Iran conflict. Overall, that poll found that 79% of respondents are concerned that Iran will now target U.S. civilians.