A new survey by the Pew Research Center in the US indicates an erosion of support among the American public for the nuclear agreement with Iran. In the survey, which was carried out between September 3 and September 7, 21% of respondents expressed support for the agreement, 49% were against, and 30% said they had no opinion. 30% of respondents also said they had heard nothing at all about the agreement.
In a similar survey carried out in mid-July this year, 33% said they supported the agreement and 45% opposed it. The proportion of those who say they support the agreement has thus declined by 12% within about six weeks. The party split emerges clearly from the results, with far more Democrat voters than Republican voters supporting the agreement, but the erosion in support has taken place among both sets of voters.
According to the new survey, 42% of Democrats support the agreement, 29% oppose it, and 29% have no opinion on the matter. The July survey found 50% of Democrats in favor of the agreement, 27% against, and 22% with no opinion. Among the Republicans, the already low level of support of 13% in July fell to just 6% in the current survey.
The findings of the Pew survey, however, contradict those of a survey carried out on September 1 by the University of Maryland, which found a small majority of Americans in favor of the agreement with Iran: 52% for, versus 47% against. This survey too found a deep partisan split on the issue, with a large majority of Republicans opposing it and a large majority of Democrats in favor.
It should be pointed out that the University of Maryland findings are out of step with a trend of strong public opposition to the agreement recorded in five surveys in August, including one by Quinnipiac University, which found 55% against the agreement, 25% in favor, and 20% with no opinion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 10, 2015
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