Poll: Majority Say Obama ‘Too Soft’ in Iran Negotiations

A Fox News poll released Wednesday afternoon finds that a majority of registered voters feel President Obama has been too soft on Iran in negotiations toward a nuclear agreement.

Overall, respondents felt Obama was “too soft” rather than “striking the right balance” by a margin of 51-34. There was a clear partisan divide in the responses, with Democrats saying the President hit the right balance by nearly 2:1, 55-28 percent. Republicans on the other hand said the President’s stance toward Iran was too soft by an 80-11 percent margin.

Asked whether negotiating with Iran was the “right thing” because it could halt Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon or the “wrong thing” because Iran couldn’t be trusted, respondents once again were divided by party. Democrats said negotiation was the right choice by a margin of 59-30 percent, while Republicans said it was the wrong choice by 76-18 percent. Overall, respondents feel negotiations are the wrong approach by a 50-40 percent margin.

Despite disagreement on the President’s approach, a majority of both parties agreed that Iran represented a threat to the United States’ national security. Democrats agreed by a 53-40 percent margin and Republicans by 83-14 percent. Overall, 65 percent of registered voters said Iran was a threat to the U.S.

However, an even larger percentage of both parties agreed that ISIS was a threat. For Democrats the margin was 73-24 percent and for Republicans it was 92-8 percent.

The poll also asked voters their opinion on Obama’s overall job performance and found 42 percent approved and 53% disapproved. The result was a slight dip from last month, when the same question resulted in a 45-50 percent margin.

On individual issues, President Obama got his worst marks on his handling of Iran with 32 percent approval and 57 percent disapproval, leaving him 25 points underwater on that issue. The President did much better on the economy with a 45-52 percent margin, unchanged from the previous month.