For most of the last century of American history, public opinion on Iran has been shaped by moments of crisis, conflict, and perceived threat. Today, with the United States at war with Iran, those long-standing attitudes are once again being measured, but the roots of American skepticism stretch back decades.
In the early years of U.S.–Iran relations, Iran was not seen as a central concern for most Americans. In 1952 as the threat of communism consumer American foreign policy — and prior to the CIA-backed coup that installed the Shah in power — only 35% of Americans said it would matter a “great deal” if communists took control of Iran, according to NORC. Even more than two decades later, in 1976, public appetite for involvement remained limited, with just 23% of Americans saying the U.S. should send military aid to Iran under the Shah, based on a Time Magazine/Yankelovich, Skelly & White survey. At that point, Iran was still relatively peripheral in the American public’s view of global priorities.
That changed dramatically with the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, a defining moment that cemented Iran as a primary adversary in the American imagination. In the midst of the crisis, 66% of Americans said the U.S. should attack Iran if American hostages were harmed, according to an NBC News/Associated Press survey, while 69% opposed sending the Shah back to Iran for trial, per an ABC News/Louis Harris & Associates poll. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, distrust remained deeply entrenched, with Gallup finding in periodic polling that only 5% to 13% of Americans viewed Iran favorably.
Following the September 11th attacks, perceptions of Iran became even more tied to national security concerns. In 2004, Gallup found just 17% of Americans held a favorable view of the country, while 77% viewed it unfavorably. In the same polling, 58% said Iran posed a long-term threat to the United States, 72% believed a nuclear-armed Iran would attack Israel, 66% feared attacks on the U.S. or Europe, and 82% thought Iran might provide nuclear weapons to terrorist groups. By 2006, Pew found Iran topping the list of countries representing the “greatest danger” to the U.S. with 27% of Americans naming the country, a sharp increase from 9% the year before.
Despite these concerns, support for direct military conflict has always remained fairly low. In 2010 a CBS News/60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll found Americans divided on what would justify war: 25% said only an attack on U.S. soil, another 25% pointed to an attack on U.S. naval forces, while smaller shares cited a nuclear test (11%) or an attack on Israel (10%).
By the mid-2010s, negative perceptions of Iran reached some of their highest levels. In 2015, 84% of Americans held an unfavorable view, according to Gallup. Opinions were split on the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement — with about 38% approving and 48% disapproving — but most Americans saying they were skeptical that Iran would uphold its commitments, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center poll.
Since then tensions continued to shape opinion. After the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal under President Trump, 62% of Americans believed Iran had violated the agreement, according to CNN/SSRS polling. The 2020 killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani further escalated tensions, and public opinion remained overwhelmingly negative in the years that followed. From 2021 through 2024, Gallup consistently found that between 13% and 17% of Americans viewed Iran favorably.
Now, amid renewed conflict, the public remains wary of deeper military involvement. This past summer a Washington Post poll found that 45% of Americans opposed U.S. airstrikes on Iran, compared with 25% who supported them, while 30% were unsure. Little has changed now that we are at war. Notably, no major polling since the outbreak of the current conflict has shown majority support for the war.
Americans have long viewed Iran through a lens of caution and concern, shaped by decades of geopolitical tension. But even as negative perceptions have remained consistent, support for military action has also been consistently limited. The result is a public that sees Iran as a threat, yet remains hesitant about the costs and consequences of war, a divide that continues to define opinion today.