6 in 10 Voters Cited Iran War as Wrong Decision, Vance Blames GOP Loss

Roughly six in 10 voters said the United States made the wrong decision in taking military action against Iran. Vice President JD Vance used that finding on Wednesday to explain the Republican Party's deep losses in the midterm elections. He attempted to distance himself from President Donald Trump, who had defended the war as a necessary and correct move.

Vance, who previously said he would decide after the election whether to run for president in 2028, posted a lengthy statement on social media. He blamed the unpopular conflict for the party's drubbing. The vice president wrote that if voters wanted to argue the war was worth the loss of the Senate for the next six years, they were free to do so. He described the real reason for the defeat as obvious to almost everyone.

President Trump offered a different assessment. He said late Tuesday that the decision to go to war earlier this year was very wise. He also said that it was an absolutely correct one. The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Vance's post Wednesday.

The poll suggests the war was not the leading issue for most voters. Only about one-third of voters said the conflict was crucial to their choice for Congress. That figure was well below the roughly half who cited the cost of living or government corruption as decisive factors. However, voter sentiment split sharply by party preference. Nearly all voters who backed the Democratic candidate in their House race said the war was the wrong decision. In contrast, roughly 8 in 10 voters who supported the Republican candidate said it was the right decision.

Vance's shift in tone marks a change from his previous stance. A former Marine who served in Iraq, he had long advocated for restraint in U.S. Military intervention. He said after becoming vice president that a Trump administration would avoid the open-ended conflicts of the past. When Trump launched the war with Iran in the spring, Vance remained noticeably quiet. This silence stood out for a politician known for being a pugnacious defender of the president.

This summer, Vance tried to argue the conflict was worth the cost. In an interview with conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly, he said that if the U.S. Transformed the Middle East, the outcome was fundamentally worth it. After Democrats swept control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday, Vance listed several reasons for the Republican defeat. He cited the war, the cost of living, a lack of focus on America, and the U.S. Relationship with Israel.

The vice president also appeared to seek some distance from the administration's immigration crackdown. He wrote that he is open to changing enforcement by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor. However, he rejected proposals for amnesty for people living in the country illegally. Vance had also sounded a different note than Trump on Israel. He declined to endorse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection and publicly chastised members of Israel’s government for opposing Trump’s efforts to resolve the war.