The Confused State of Public Opinion on the Nuclear Deal

Some of these contradictions can be explained by partisanship, but many cannot.

Morning Consult released the findings of a new survey of American public opinion on the nuclear deal and related issues. Some of the questions were phrased oddly, and some of the results were even stranger:

Most American voters still support the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and believe sanctions should be eased on Tehran if it triggers resumed talks, according to new Morning Consult polling — even as a slim majority said a new deal may not prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

The phrasing of the first question is strange, since negotiations began nine months ago and sanctions relief wasn’t need to get them started. The interesting thing is that there is plurality support (42%) for early sanctions relief for the purposes of spurring negotiations. It would have been worth finding out what the respondents thought about the fact that the Biden administration has absolutely refused to offer any sanctions relief up front, but we won’t get the answer to that one.