ABNA24 - Democrats in the United States have launched a fresh attack on the administration of Donald Trump, this time focusing not only on domestic policy but also on the costs of his foreign policy and the economic consequences of the war with Iran.
In the narrative put forward by Trump’s opponents, the US and Israeli regime’s military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran is no longer a distant issue in West Asia; it is a war that could directly affect energy prices, the cost of living and the economic situation of American families, and in turn become one of the issues shaping the midterm elections.
Democrats are seeking to put this question at the center of the electoral competition: Who will pay the cost of Trump’s foreign policy? The White House talks about national security, deterrence and American power, but the administration’s opponents are trying to connect the bill for this policy to the everyday lives of Americans — from energy prices and inflation to purchasing power and household expenses.
This approach is significant because the economy remains one of the most important concerns for American voters. Under such circumstances, any rise in energy prices or intensification of inflationary pressures could turn foreign policy into a domestic issue. A war justified in Washington in the language of national security can manifest itself in the daily lives of American citizens in the form of higher costs.
New polls also show that a significant share of the American public does not support the country’s military involvement in a war with Iran. In a July 2026 Quinnipiac University poll, 60 percent of voters opposed US military action against Iran, while 34 percent supported it. Also, 62 percent said they disapproved of the way Trump was handling the situation regarding Iran. These figures alone do not determine the outcome of an election, but they show that the Iran war has become a measurable and political issue for a significant segment of American society.
In fact, the main issue for the Trump administration is not simply the level of opposition to the war; more importantly, it is the war’s connection to voters’ economic concerns. If Americans associate rising energy prices or inflationary pressures with the war, foreign policy could become part of the election’s economic debate, even among voters who do not normally prioritize foreign affairs.
Trump can portray military operations against Iran as a demonstration of strength, deterrence and the defense of US interests, but voters may assess them by a different standard: What is the cost of this war, and ultimately, who will bear that cost?
At the same time, significant shifts are taking place in American public attitudes toward the Israeli regime. Traditional support for Israel in the United States has faced challenges in recent years, and the Gaza war has intensified this trend. The Iran war could now move this debate beyond the moral and humanitarian level toward a more direct discussion of US interests and costs.
Gallup data from February 2026 shows that, for the first time in the polling organization’s decades-long trend, Americans’ sympathy for Palestinians surpassed their sympathy for Israelis. Forty-one percent of Americans said they sympathized more with the Palestinians, while 36 percent chose the Israelis. Among independents, sympathy for both sides stood at 41 percent.
The partisan divide on this issue is also significant. According to the same data, 65 percent of Democrats said they sympathized more with the Palestinians, while among Republicans, 70 percent continued to choose the Israelis. This divide shows that the issue of Israel has increasingly become a point of disagreement between the two major parties in the United States.
Under such circumstances, opposition to some Israeli policies and US military support for Tel Aviv is no longer limited to the Democratic Party’s left wing. On the right, too, the “America First” movement and figures such as Tucker Carlson have been discussing the costs of foreign interventions and the need to prioritize US domestic interests. The argument made by this camp is that US foreign policy should be measured against the direct interests of American citizens and that foreign commitments should not impose unlimited domestic costs.
In this way, the Iran war could deepen existing divisions in US foreign policy. On the one hand, some Democrats are questioning the military costs and support for Israel, while on the other, part of the conservative movement is invoking the “America First” slogan to argue for limiting foreign interventions. As a result, opposition to the costs of foreign policy is no longer necessarily confined to the traditional left-right divide.
For the Trump administration, this is precisely where the sensitive point lies. The economy and the cost of living remain among voters’ main concerns, and Democrats can link the Iran war to these concerns. In such a narrative, the question is no longer simply whether the United States should engage in military intervention in West Asia; rather, the question becomes whether American citizens are willing to bear the economic costs of that intervention as well.
A Quinnipiac University poll in July 2026 showed that 49 percent of voters viewed their financial situation as worse than a year earlier, while a majority also believed that the economy was getting worse. At the same time, 60 percent opposed US military action against Iran. These two figures do not necessarily establish a causal relationship between economic conditions and opposition to the war, but they show that two important issues for the American public coincided at a particular point in time.
From this perspective, the November 3 midterm elections could provide an opportunity to gauge voters’ views on the costs of the Trump administration’s foreign policy as well. Of course, it cannot be said that the Iran war alone will determine the outcome of the election; US elections are influenced by a range of factors, from the economy and immigration to healthcare, the administration’s performance and the political standing of the parties. However, the war could be one of these variables, particularly if its economic consequences remain tangible for voters.
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