New Poll: Jews Want Congress To Kill Iran Deal

Sally Fields would say they hate it, they really hate it. A poll of American Jews released Tuesday Afternoon not only shows that Jews want congress to reject the Iran deal, but the more they learn about the deal the more they hate the deal.

According to the poll the majority of Jewish Americans "disapprove" of the way President Barack Obama handled the talks with Iran over its nuclear program. 52 percent of Jewish Americans did not approve of the job Obama did in regards to the negotiations.

On behalf of The Israel Project, Olive Tree Strategies is pleased to present the key findings from a national survey of 1,034 Jewish Americans, conducted July 21-26, 2015. The survey was conducted using online interviews.

The data were weighted to approximate a national sample of Jewish Americans based on the Pew Religious Landscape study for gender and age, and past voting behavior based on the 2012 vote for President Obama. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.0% at a 95% level of confidence.

The American Jewish community generally leans to the Democrats, and broadly approves of the job President Obama is doing (57% Approve / 41% Disapprove). In 2012, 69% of American Jewish voters supported the President’s re-election. And, the President receives broadly positive marks on Health Care, the Economy, Climate Change, Race Relations, and International Trade. But, when it comes to security issues.

• Without presenting any new context, based only on the knowledge that respondents already possessed.By a narrow margin, a plurality of Jews want Congress to reject the deal. While 40% want Congress to approve the deal, 45% think that Congress should reject the deal.

• When presented with a two-sided/balanced discussion of the merits and drawbacks of the deal, a majority of Jews want Congress to reject. When presenting the White House arguments (taken from whitehouse.gov), and the arguments of some opponents, the balance shifts against the deal with American Jews, 51% now reject.

• Digging into specific concerns eradicates remaining support for deal. After being presented with ten concerns about the deal with Iran, the American Jewish community overwhelmingly opposes having Congress support the deal. With this information, only 30% still support approving the deal, while 58% want Congress to reject the deal and NOT lift sanctions on Iran.

When diverse opinions join in the conversation about the Iran deal, the Jewish community quickly moves against (and wasn’t exactly approving of the deal to begin with). Any conversation on the issue, even one including the pro-deal aspect of the conversation, drives opposition higher with this community.

As the conversation about Congress’ role with regard to the deal continues to take center stage, there is little question that opposition to the agreement will rise.

BTW a J Street poll had a totally different result, the problems with the J Street poll are many including improper screening and it describes a deal inconsistent with what was really negotiated.

The full presentation of the poll is embedded below.

U.s. national survey of Jewish community on Iran nuclear deal -- Charts from The Israel Project