Low Trump approval on Iran lingers despite tentative deal: Survey – The Hill
A majority of Americans disapprove of how President Trump has handled the U.S. conflict with Iran, even as he touts a new agreement to end the war, according to polling data released Thursday.
The Associated Press-NORC survey, which was conducted after the president called off threats to escalate the conflict and shortly before he officially signed a framework agreement with Iran, found that 65 percent of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue.
Democrats and independent Americans drove down his approval rating, while only 28 percent of Republican respondents cast a negative view on the president’s job performance on Iran.
Seventy-six percent of independents and 92 percent of Democrats said they disapproved of how Trump has handled the Iranian issue.
The new data is consistent with the results from the polling center’s May survey, which found Trump’s disapproval rating on Iran sitting at 64 percent.
Thirty percent of Republican respondents in the new survey expressed discontent with his handling of Iran.
These low approval ratings come as the U.S. and Iran begin a 60-day period of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
A memorandum of understanding with Iran signed by Trump on Wednesday declared a commitment from both sides to find a path toward peace and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil trading channel.
The 14-point framework agreement has received criticism from Democrats and some GOP members of Congress for including provisions to lift sanctions on Iran and supply the country with a $300 billion reconstruction fund.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he was “concerned” the deal “negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the President’s goals.”
“The Iranian regime has not renounced its ultimate goal — ‘Death to America, Death to Israel.’ The regime will invest every penny it receives to further that aim,” Wicker said. “President Trump has pursued peace through strength. I hope the intermediaries working on this deal are not undermining that objective.”
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R) told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday she would need to ensure that taxpayer money was not being used to fund Iran’s rebuilding projects.
“I have to know where that money is coming from because I don’t think my constituents are going to be really happy about it if that’s all U.S. taxpayer dollars,” Ernst said. “If it is their money that we are releasing, that might be a different story.”
Trump defended his administration’s handling of the conflict and the agreement in posts on Truth Social on Friday morning.
“The War has diminished Iran!” he wrote. “It doesn’t, any longer, have an Air Force, a Navy, Antiaircraft Equipment, Radar, or practically anything else, and yet the Dumocrats say that Iran is better off now than it was four months ago. Can you imagine getting away with that??? How stupid can some people be???”
Trump claimed that Tehran was “FINISHED” in a follow-up post.
“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did,” he wrote. “They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”
The AP-NORC poll was conducted among 3,040 adults from June 11-17 with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
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