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Majority of American Jews Disapprove of Obama’s Handling of Iran Talks

President Obama
President Obama / AP
July 28, 2015

Most American Jews disapprove of how President Obama has handled the nuclear negotiations with Iran, according to a new poll released by the Israel Project (TIP) on Tuesday.

Fifty-two percent of Jewish Americans surveyed said they "disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing" on the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

Respondents were split on whether they supported the Iranian nuclear deal. Forty-seven percent disapproved and 44 percent approved.

There were also indications in the survey that Jewish Americans are more likely to oppose the agreement as they hear more about it, according to Olive Tree Strategies, which conducted the poll for TIP.

A plurality—45 percent—of respondents initially said Congress should reject the Iran deal and 40 percent said they should approve it.

That same question was asked during three different points the poll, and the percentage that said Congress should scrap the agreement grew as the survey progressed.

At the end of the poll, 58 percent of respondents said Congress should vote down the deal, and just 30 percent said it should be approved.

Fifty-six percent agreed more with the statement "the deal with Iran is not tough enough and will eventually lead to the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon" than with the statement "the deal with Iran is good progress and will limit Iran’s nuclear program."

When respondents were read a series of arguments for and against the deal, they were more likely to agree with the objections in each case.

Omri Ceren, managing director of press and strategy at the Israel Project, said the poll showed that "after American Jews learn more about the debate—which is going to be what all of August is about—they end up wanting Congress to reject the deal 58 percent to 30 percent."

The poll surveyed 1,034 American Jews and had a 3 percent margin of error. It was conducted between July 21 and July 26 and "weighted to approximate a national sample of Jewish Americans based on the Pew Religious Landscape study for gender and age, and past voting behavior based on the 2012 vote for President Obama," according to Olive Tree Strategies.

Published under: Iran , Iran Nuclear Deal