After weeks of negotiations on scaling back Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. and Israel jointly launched a series of surprise air strikes on the country on Feb. 28, 2026. Within hours, Iran’s Supreme Leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was dead.
Since then, President Trump and his administration have offered a variety of explanations for the continued aggression against Iran, often contradicting what officials previously said. These justifications for increased military intervention in the country have billed the conflict at different times as retaliation for the regime’s killing of peaceful protestors, a preemptive measure to protect U.S. assets in the Middle East, a national security effort against an Iranian nuclear threat, and ally support for Israel. Regardless of how the administration frames the conflict against Iran, new data from the 52nd edition of the Harvard Youth Poll, the largest national survey of Americans ages 18 to 29, shows that young adults are overwhelmingly skeptical about the current U.S. strategy in Iran.
When asked about the current conflict in Iran, only 18% of respondents expressed that U.S. military operations in the country are “definitely” or “probably” in the best interest of the American people. Conversely, 55% of total respondents expressed that the war is “probably not” or “definitely not” not in the best interest of the American people. Responses were split down a stark partisan line: A plurality of Republicans (42%) say that the war is in America’s best interest, while a strong majority of Democrats (79%) express that it is not. Notably, almost a quarter of total respondents (24%) responded “Don’t Know.”
While the recent military operations in Iran have introduced a new source of uncertainty for America’s youth, the perceived threat posed by Iran has remained relatively constant through time and across party lines. When asked how serious a threat to America Iran is, 55% of respondents answered that the threat is “Very serious” or “Somewhat serious.” When this same question was asked in the Fall 2017 edition of the Harvard Youth Poll, 57% of respondents believed that Iran posed a “Very serious” or “Somewhat serious” threat. Although the partisan breakdown is unavailable for the Fall 2017 poll, the Spring 2026 poll shows no clear evidence of a partisan split in threat perception — both a majority of Democrats and Republicans view Iran as a threat.
The Iran threat has been particularly salient for the Trump administration throughout both terms, as evident in the administration’s foreign policy decisions on the matter. During the first Trump administration, President Trump backed out of the Iran nuclear deal, a 2015 agreement that placed limitations on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, claiming that these limitations failed to sufficiently protect American national security. According to President Trump at the time, “The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.” At the same time, Trump has proved ineffective at curbing the Iranian nuclear threat outside of the agreement, with Iran accelerating its uranium enrichment processes in the absence of supervision from international inspectors.
While both officials from Trump’s administrations and Trump himself have publicly described their foreign policy agenda as “America First,” the recent escalations in Iran are a sharp departure from the platform’s stated goals. Despite claiming to support policies that “end the use of military or tax dollars for nation building” and attacking Democratic candidates in the 2016 presidential election for their “failed policy of nation building and regime change,” Trump has welcomed regime change as an explanation for the war in Iran.
With Trump’s inconsistent justifications for the war in Iran, many of the nation’s youth are perhaps more concerned about domestic priorities than the president is. When asked to think about how the current conflict in Iran will potentially impact their cost of living in the U.S., 71% of young adults believe that this concern is “Very serious” or “Somewhat serious.” This comes as gas prices remain volatile, with Iran using the Strait of Hormuz, a key water passageway in transporting oil to the United States, as a crucial bargaining chip in ceasefire negotiations. This volatility inherently leaves Americans feeling uncertain about their economic futures, as daily developments in the conflict are felt directly by the people. It is apparent that America’s younger generations are concerned about the domestic economic implications of a war in Iran, especially since 72% of respondents express a “Very serious” or “Somewhat serious” concern that the conflict in Iran will escalate into a much larger war.
Even with multiple explanations for the war in Iran, the Trump administration has fundamentally failed to connect with young Americans on their concerns about the war and when they believe it is justified for the U.S. to get involved in another country’s affairs. According to data from the Spring 2025 edition of the Harvard Youth Poll, the most popular reason given for when it is acceptable for the U.S. to get involved in another country’s affairs was to “protect our allies” (47%). This was followed by “to defend U.S. national security interests” (46%) and “to prevent human rights violations” (44%). Although the Trump administration entered into the Iran war alongside Israel, the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East, young Americans in particular have a less favorable stance on the U.S.-Israel alliance than older generations. According to polling from the Pew Research Center, only 16% of adults under 30 favor military aid to Israel. Conversely, 56% of adults 65 and older support military aid to Israel.
Despite their broad opposition to the conflict, young Americans tend to have the most at stake in a war with Iran. Unstable gas prices and the economic implications of a full-scale conflict will disproportionately hit younger generations, who already face immense financial strain and a shaky job market. Coupled with a new rule that will allow the U.S. to automatically register men for a military draft within 30 days of their 18th birthday, and the fact that the nation’s youth have on multiple accounts been asked to take up arms for their country in past conflicts, young Americans are justified in their heightened sense of concern about the war with Iran.
For an administration supposedly so concerned about putting America first in foreign policy decisions, the escalation in tensions with Iran ignores the high levels of apprehension young Americans have about the domestic and international implications of war. I previously highlighted how “our youth are expressing lukewarm pride in their country and a lack of conviction about America’s strategy abroad” after last year’s edition of the poll, conducted two months after Trump’s second inauguration. A year later, the data paints a similar picture: Our nation’s youth are uncertain about the United States’ role on the international stage. When the President of the United States cannot commit to a consistent explanation for why we entered a war, we must re-evaluate our commitments to aggression abroad. Our nation’s leaders owe it to young Americans to protect us from the destabilizing effects of war — or at the very least, offer a reasonable explanation.
Associate Managing Editor
