Despite Trump-Netanyahu Efforts to Sabotage Deal, Public Support for Iran Nuclear Pact at All-Time High

Even as President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue a coordinated attempt to sabotage the 2015 international agreement with Iran, a new poll shows Americans have a record level of support for the nuclear pact.

"Despite Trump, Netanyahu, and Bolton's lies, the American public remains firm in their support of the #IranDeal."
--Trita Parsi, National Iranian American CouncilThe Morning Consult/Politico survey (pdf) finds that 56 percent of registered voters back the agreement--the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)--matching a record high reached April 2017. Twenty-two percent said they strongly support they deal, and 34 percent said that they somewhat support it.

Just 26 percent said they oppose the deal. That's the lowest level of opposition since 2015, when Morning Consult/Politico began polling on the question. With net public support at a record 30 percentage points, that too marks a record high.

More Democrats than Republicans back the deal. Sixty eight percent of Democrats support the deal and just 14 percent oppose it. Republicans views were more evenly divided; just 46 percent of Republicans back the deal, while just 42 percent oppose it.

Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), noted the "firm support" Americans have for the deal "despite Trump, Netanyahu, and [National Security Adviser John] Bolton's lies."

The results come just 10 days before the deadline for Trump to re-certify the nuclear accord, and two days after Netanyahu delivered a TED Talk-esque speech described as a "dog and pony show," which, despite the prime minister's claims, revealed nothing new about Iran's program, and, contrary to his aims, actually "works as an advertisement for the pact he was trying to take down."

In response to Netanyahu's speech, Parsi said, "if Trump is hoodwinked into abrogating the deal out of notions that Iran lied about its nuclear program 15 years ago, we will be repeating the foolhardy notions that led to the war in Iraq." He also noted that the speech came right after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's weekend visit to the Middle East, where he stressed to Netanyahu the nation's support for Israel vis-a-vis the perceived Iranian threat and reiterated the Trump administration's view the nuclear deal is "flawed."

"It is hard to believe it is a coincidence that Netanyahu's announcement comes on the heels of Pompeo's meeting with the Prime Minister. Trump's war cabinet has not even been in place for a week but is already setting the stage for an all out regional war," Parsi said.

Israel meanwhile, continues to hide its own nuclear program.

According to Middle East commentator Juan Cole, Israel's attempt "to put Iran on the front burner of American war-making... is a desperate attempt on Netanyahu's part to divert world attention from the ongoing Israeli Apartheid discrimination against the stateless Palestinians, which it militarily occupies (directly with jackboots and colonial settlers on the West Bank, indirectly with military encirclement and the sniping of innocent protesters in Gaza)."

The new poll of 1,991 registered voters was conducted online April 26 -May 01, 2018, and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.