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Putting boots on the ground could kill Trump's presidency

On 27 March 2026, Responsible Statecraft, an American foreign-policy magazine, published Putting boots on the ground could kill Trump's presidency. Columnist Jack Hunter says polls of Americans, including many Republicans, draw a line against sending US troops to fight on land in Iran. An American family should care because the question in the polls is not "do you like the bombing." It is whether their own soldiers should go ashore.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. Hunter reports several named polls, AP-NORC, Data for Progress, and Quinnipiac, that point the same way: most Americans oppose US ground troops in Iran. The Republican splits differ poll to poll, and his warning about the presidency is his own forecast.

What the article says

Hunter's subheading says every poll of Americans, including Republicans, shows a hard line against a land war with US troops in Iran. The numbers he then cites are more specific than that line.

He writes that a new Associated Press-NORC poll found 63 percent of Republicans in favor of airstrikes on Iranian military targets, but only 20 percent in favor of deploying US troops. About the whole country, the page says this:

"Among all Americans, according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 62% percent oppose deploying U.S. troops on the ground in Iran."

Jack Hunter, Responsible Statecraft, 27 March 2026, citing that poll. The page prints "62% percent," which repeats the word percent.

He writes that a Data for Progress poll from mid-March found 68 percent of all respondents opposed to deploying US troops to Iran. By party, he writes, 48 percent of Republicans, 85 percent of Democrats, and 71 percent of independents were opposed. He writes that a Quinnipiac University poll taken from 6 March to 8 March found 74 percent of voters opposed to US ground troops in Iran and 20 percent in support. In that poll, he writes, 52 percent of Republicans, 95 percent of Democrats, and 75 percent of independents were opposed.

Read together as Hunter presents them, the three polls show a majority of all adults against ground troops. They do not show the same thing inside the Republican Party. In the Data for Progress numbers he prints, Republican opposition is 48 percent, which is not a majority of Republicans. In the AP-NORC numbers, he reports how many Republicans favor a landing (20 percent), not how many oppose it. Only the Quinnipiac figures he cites put Republican opposition over half, at 52 percent.

Hunter's own conclusion is political. He writes that Trump's presidency may turn on whether he starts a ground war he and earlier presidents had promised to avoid after Iraq and Afghanistan. He writes that a Fox News poll released the same week found 62 percent of voters disapproving of the president overall and 64 percent disapproving of how he had handled the Iran conflict. That Fox question, as he describes it, is about the war in general, not specifically about a landing.

He also quotes a Trump voter, Donnie Beson of Colorado, from the Associated Press account. Beson said he does not regret supporting the president, complained about what he called a billion-dollar-a-day war, and said the president should worry about problems at home. Beson, in the words Hunter prints, does not discuss a landing.

What other reporting and posts add

Other polls, same direction. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released 19 March found, as Common Dreams reported, "just 7% of US voters support the idea of a large-scale ground invasion of Iran," while "65% of Americans believe that Trump will order such an operation anyway," and "55% said they would oppose the use of any ground troops." Common Dreams, 20 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md) By May, The New York Times reported "53 percent of Republican voters under 45 disapprove of Mr. Trump's handling of the Iran war, according to a New York Times/Siena poll." The New York Times, 29 June 2026. (capture: twitter/t12__v140.md) An X news summary two days after this column carried a Politico line: "Republican insiders believe if we put boots on the ground in Iran the GOP will lose 60-70 seats in the House." X trend, 29 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t50__v599.md)

Pro-Israel money beat the war's loudest Republican critic. Public opposition did not protect every anti-war Republican. The same Times article reported that "Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the Iran war's loudest Republican critic in the House, lost in May to a primary challenger who was heavily backed by pro-Israel donors." (capture: twitter/t12__v140.md)

The plans came anyway. A Washington Post report the next day said the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground raids (a250), and about 90 troops went into Iran for an April rescue (a238).

What it shows

The public said no to a ground war in poll after poll: 62 percent opposed in AP-NORC, 68 percent in Data for Progress, 74 percent in Quinnipiac. Yet a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 65 percent expected Trump to order one anyway. The day after this column, the Washington Post reported the Pentagon preparing for weeks of ground raids, and in April about 90 troops went into Iran for the F-15E rescue.

Public opposition did not steer the plans, and it did not protect the war's critics: the Iran war's loudest Republican critic in the House, Thomas Massie, lost his primary to a challenger "heavily backed by pro-Israel donors." See Congress and the Public.

Check it yourself

Putting boots on the ground could kill Trump's presidency, Jack Hunter, Responsible Statecraft, 27 March 2026. No second source was opened for this page. The poll figures above are as Hunter's column states them.

Status: Donald Trump is alive.

For a newcomer: the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026, and by late March the question was whether Americans would be sent onto Iranian ground. Responsible Statecraft is the online magazine of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington think tank founded in 2019 that argues for military restraint and against new wars. Jack Hunter is a conservative writer who has worked for Sen. Rand Paul. His argument is political: if polls show most Americans, and many Republicans, oppose ground troops, then sending them could break Trump's presidency.

Research captures: twitter/t13__v147.md, twitter/t12__v140.md, twitter/t50__v599.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26