‘Political Disaster!’ New CNN Poll Shows ‘Republicans Abandoning the President’ Over Iran, Says Top Analyst

CNN Washington bureau chief David Chalian joined anchor Pamela Brown on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest polling from the network on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

“As President Trump addresses the United Nations and meets with Gulf leaders over the future of the Iran war, CNN has a brand new poll out this morning that finds just 29 percent of Americans approve of how the president is handling foreign affairs. That is a new low in CNN polling across both of his terms as president,” Brown said before bringing in Chalian.

“Yeah, so, you know, we asked, do you think the United States is winning the war in Iran?” Chalian began. “This is the finding that Kaitlin was just asking the president about, what you just saw there. Nearly two-thirds, 64%, in our poll say no, the U.S. is not winning the war in Iran. Two-thirds of Americans say that. How is Trump handling the war in Iran? I think this is the worst number in the poll for him.”

Chalian added:

Only 26% approve of how Donald Trump is handling the war in Iran. I want to say something about that number: that was 33% back in March. This has never been a popular war, Pamela, but it’s down seven points here overall, largely driven by Republicans abandoning the president on this issue. He’s down 13 percentage points in Republican approval of his handling of the war. This war is nothing short of a political disaster for Donald Trump.

“And how do Americans view Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth?” Brown followed up.

“I mean, if you look across the war cabinet overall, none of them are doing well. I think it’s the weight of the president. I mean, you see Marco Rubio is at 40% approval, JD Vance at 36%, Hegseth is down at 34% approval in our poll,” explained Chalian, adding:

By the way, I should note all three of these folks are mentioned as potential 2028 Republican presidential candidates, and their current approval ratings are really dramatically upside down. You’ve got — I mean, for Hegseth, who scores the worst here — two-thirds of Americans disapprove of his performance as Secretary of Defense. You know, again, the president’s weight of unpopularity hangs over his entire administration and, quite frankly, the Republican Party.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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