Linley Sanders/ Mike Catalini Washington

MostAmericans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump's approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The results are a stark repudiation of Trump's approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

About two-thirds of US adults say the war with Iran, which began February 28, has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and inde-pendents, as well as about 37 per cent of Republicans.

The poll was conducted July 23-27, as the US and Iran paused attacks following a near-ly two-week escalation in the war. During the escalation, the US targeted Iranian mili-tary and commercial sites while Iran attacked US military facilities in the Middle East, resulting in additional deaths of American service members. Since the war began, 18 US service members have been killed, but the Trump administration has sought to revise those numbers.

The survey reinforces how unpopular the Iran war has become at home, a potential problem for congressional Republicans up for reelection in November who have de-fended Trump's military actions.

Just 28 per cent of US adults now approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight de-cline from 34 per cent last month. Even Republicans appear to be increasingly unhappy with the prolonged conflict. Roughly 61 per cent of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71 per cent in June.

The margin of sampling error for Republicans is 6 points, so the decline is considered slight, but it's still noteworthy given Republicans' much higher approval of how Trump is handling the presidency overall.

Trump's overall approval rating is at 33 per cent, slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term and similar to where former President Joe Biden stood about one and a half years into his presidency, when inflation peaked.

Robert McClary, a 52-year-old Republican from Sugar Grove, Ohio, is sceptical the war could be brought to an easy conclusion and disapproves of Trump's handling of it. McClary voted for the president once, in 2016, but recalls that during the last election, Trump campaigned on not starting new wars in the Middle East.

“I don't have any trust in this administration at all and to why they brought us into this war, why they're putting our soldiers at risk again,” he said.

The findings also indicate that most Americans' goals for the conflict may not be aligned with Trump, who has repeatedly said the war was launched to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran's hands. While about two-thirds of US adults say it's “extremely” or “very” important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — with Republicans es-pecially likely to say this — even more Americans say it's highly important for the US to keep gasoline prices low or negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Iran.

McClary added: “I really don't know what you can do now. I mean, you've kind of got-ten yourself buried into this mess.”

Relatively few want military action against Iran to continue

There's little appetite among Americans for a prolonged conflict. Only about 2 in 10 US adults want to continue military action in Iran, while about 3 in 10 say the US should pause military action and seek a renewed ceasefire through negotiations. About 2 in 10 want to completely stop military action in Iran and roughly one-quarter don't know enough to say.

About half of Republicans say the US should continue military action against Iran, par-ticularly those who identify as “very conservative.” Republicans who identify as MAGA — part of Trump's Make America Great Again movement — are much likelier than non-MAGA Republicans to say the war should continue. Non-MAGA Republicans are more likely to want a ceasefire or a complete halt to the military action.

Jennifer Norton, a 71-year-old Republican from Crossville, Tennessee, supports mili-tary action in Iran but has been displeased to see prices rising for things like beef roasts and hamburgers. Norton lives on a “modest income,” and things are getting expensive.

“I am getting a little impatient, but when I start to dwell on that for a minute, I remember Mr. President Trump is a brilliant businessman,” she said. “He can't tell us exactly what he's doing, but I trust that he's doing something. I mean, he is doing fine.”

Independents and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to want to stop military action against Iran immediately, although about 3 in 10 Republicans want either a pause or complete stop to military action.

Ryan Sloan, a 39-year-old Republican in Lakeland, Florida, has come to disapprove of the conflict in Iran recently because he wants a better explanation from the Trump ad-ministration about why the war intensified in late July.

“Let's face it, not everybody's going to be happy with him,” Sloan said. “I just wish I'd have had more transparency about why things were going on the way they were.”

It's important to keep gas prices down

Many Americans continue to be concerned about the pocketbook impact of the Iran war. About 7 in 10 US adults — 72 per cent — say it's “extremely” or “very” important for the US to prevent domestic oil and gas prices from rising, up slightly from 67 per cent in March.

Oil topped $100 a barrel last week, ending a brief period of lower prices when hostili-ties between the US and Iran eased in June. Gas prices rose above $4 per gallon on av-erage, and the elevated fuel price is hitting consumers in other ways, too. Inflation cooled last month but remains elevated, and consumer spending has slowed, with signs that Americans are taking advantage of sales and other incentives.

There are also indications that fluctuating gasoline prices are an increasingly big prob-lem for many Americans. About 4 in 10 say the cost of gas for their car is a “major source” of stress in their life right now, compared to about 3 in 10 in February.

Washington

PresidentDonald Trump has said artificial intelligence would have a greater impact than the internet and stressed that the United States must maintain its lead over China while carefully weighing the need for regulation of the fast-evolving technology.

Trump said his administration was examining possible safeguards for AI development but warned against imposing restrictions that could undermine America's competitive advantage.

"We're looking at AI. We're looking at controls," Trump told reporters on Wednesday (lo-cal time) in response to a question about stronger regulation of artificial intelligence. "We're also making sure that we lead. So, we're leading China in AI by a lot."

Trump said China was pursuing AI development with few regulatory constraints, making it essential for the United States to strike the right balance between oversight and inno-vation. "China has virtually no controls; it's freewheeling a little bit. So, we have to be careful in both ways."

He cautioned that excessive regulation could hand a strategic advantage to Beijing. "We don't want to restrict them where all of a sudden, we come in second to China."

The President described AI as a transformational technology whose significance would surpass previous technological revolutions. "Whoever wins with AI is going to win, that's how big it is. So, it's bigger than the internet ever was; it's bigger than anything ever was." Trump also made clear that he wanted American technology companies to continue ad-vancing without unnecessary government intervention. "So, I don't want to restrict -- I know many of these people, I don't want to restrict them from doing great work."