Poll Finds Growing Opposition to Iran Deal

By Julian Hattem

The Hill

July 29, 2015

Public support for the Iran nuclear deal is declining, according to a new poll released Wednesday by critics of the agreement.

The survey released on Wednesday by Secure America Now found that 45 percent of registered voters want lawmakers to oppose the agreement, an increase of 8 percent from one month ago.

After hearing additional arguments for and against the deal, the opposition to the deal grew to 65 percent in the poll, indicating that advocates on both sides could have significant influence on the national debate over the coming weeks.

The most heated opposition comes from Republicans, though many Democrats are also growing critical of the agreement, which could point to a difficult few weeks for congressional Democrats. Overall, Democrats in Congress have expressed mixed emotions about the deal, which they will be forced to take a vote on in September.

“There’s some real message for Democratic senators here,” Pat Caddell, a Democratic pollster who helped run the survey, told The Hill. “Which is why so many of them I think feel caught, and they rightly should, in between the arguments.”

Democratic support will be increasingly crucial for the Obama administration ahead of the September vote in Congress to kill the deal. Republicans are expected to unite in their opposition to the pact, leaving Democrats with the choice of whether to sustain a veto from President Obama.

While the new survey’s numbers still show Democrats tend to support the administration, they are hardly a ringing of endorsement for a diplomatic agreement that Obama clearly sees as a legacy achievement.

Fifty-two percent of self-identified Democrats told pollsters than they supported various arguments presented by the Obama administration, including that opponents “offer no other course than war.” Just 51 percent of Democrats said that the deal “makes America safer and more secure.”

After hearing additional arguments about the deal, only 47 percent of Democrats told pollsters that lawmakers should vote to support it.

“I think in the next five weeks, as we go through August and into September, it’s going to get worse,” Caddell said. “There’s a consistency to the movement."

The poll of 800 likely general election voters was conducted on July 22 and 23.