As Congress prepares to vote on the nuclear agreement with Iran, public support for President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement has plummeted, with just 21 percent of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center now saying they back the deal.
On a day when the 42nd Senate Democrat came out in favor of the deal, raising the possibility that a resolution to disapprove the deal may never make it to Obama’s desk to veto, the new poll suggests that he is losing the public relations battle.
Back in July, shortly after the deal was reached, Pew found 33 percent supported it, compared with 45 percent who opposed it. But after a summer of ads and speeches by supporters and opponents and an aggressive PR push from the White House, the same poll now finds that 21 percent approve compared to 49 percent who disapprove. The number of people who said they don’t know or had no opinion actually grew — from 22 percent to 30 percent.
Among those who say they have heard at least a little about the agreement, 57 percent disapprove compared to just 27 percent who disapprove — a more than two-to-one margin of disapproval.
Support for the deal declined across the ideological spectrum. Even among Democrats, support fell from 50 percent to 42 percent over the summer. Though that’s higher than the 29 percent of Democrats who say they oppose the deal, it’s still striking that Obama couldn’t even muster majority support for the deal among Americans who identify with his party.
Interesting, however, the number of those surveyed who say they haven’t heard anything about the deal increased from 21 percent to 30 percent, despite the fierce debate inside Washington about the deal.
