The Most Unpopular War in American History

The Iran war began on February 28, 2025, and according to polling by The Economist and YouGov, it started with net support of negative 13 percentage points — meaning more Americans opposed it than supported it from day one. This is unprecedented. Every other major US war since World War II, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, began with positive net support. By the time of this conversation, the Iran war had fallen to negative 35 net support, making it the most unpopular war in polling history. Even among the minority who still say it was the right decision, about half want it to end as quickly as possible.

The $1.1 Trillion Defense Budget and What It Buys

The enacted defense budget for fiscal year 2026 is $1.1 trillion, which includes both the base budget and additional military funding from the "Big Beautiful Bill" reconciliation package passed in July 2025. This is the largest military budget since 1945 — in inflation-adjusted dollars, the United States is now spending more on average per year on its military than it did during World War II from 1942 to 1945. The budget consumes more than half of all discretionary spending that Congress votes on each year.