Though a recent poll showed that Americans are skeptical that Iran would slow or stop its development of nuclear weapons as a result of a treaty being negotiated by President Obama, more than two-thirds do favor direct diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on the matter in a new poll.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans favor negotiations between the U.S. and Iran in an attempt to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, compared to 29 percent who oppose them, according to the CNN/ORC poll.
About a third of Americans thought a letter to Iranian leaders from 47 GOP senators who warned that any deal with Iran would require congressional sign-off — and could be undone by the next president — hurt ongoing U.S. efforts to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Eighteen percent said the letter helped U.S. efforts, and 44 percent said it made no difference. Forty-nine percent thought the letter went too far, and 39 percent said they thought it was an appropriate response to the way negotiations with Iran were going.
As talks between U.S. and Iranian officials resumed, the letter — roundly criticized by the White House and congressional Democrats — has reportedly become a topic of contention.
At this point, a plurality said they trust President Obama more so than the Republicans in Congress to handle both the major issues facing the country today and the major foreign policy issues facing the country.
The full survey of 1,009 American adults was taken March 13-15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The questions of who voters trust more were based on half samples of about 500 people with margins of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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