Americans worried about Iran, support direct talks and tough sanctions

A new poll shows that Americans are worried about the nuclear aspirations about Iran and support the U.S. doing anything it can to stop the Islamic republic — from sanctions to direct negotiations.

The Israel Project poll of 800 registered voters, jointly conducted by the Republican Public Opinion Strategies and the Democratic Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found that 81 percent believe Iran poses a "very" or "somewhat" serious threat to the United States, and 84 percent agreed with the statement "Even with all the problems that America faces at home now, we must still work hard to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

The poll also found that there is strong support for both engagement and tougher sanctions. Seventy-six percent of the sample support the initiation of "direct talks between the US and Iran to negotiate its nuclear program, when given "a series of actions that can be taken with regard to Iran if they do not stop their nuclear program." But 81 perecent also backed expansion of United Nations economic and diplomatic sanctions, 69 percent wanted an end to "all taxpayer funded government contracts with companies that do business with Iran" and 66 percent of respondents want to "prevent any company from doing business in the United States if that company provides Iran with refined petroleum."

The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3.46 percent. Here’s a link to a PowerPoint presentation of the results, and here’s one to a page containing a link to the full survey results. The Israel Project’s press release is after the jump:[[READMORE]]

New Bipartisan Poll on Iran

According to a new poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and commissioned by The Israel Project:

• 81 percent of American voters believe Iran is a serious threat to U.S.
• Two-thirds support proposal to “prevent any company doing business in the United States if that company provides Iran with refined petroleum.”

Washington, D.C. – A new bipartisan poll (Word document, PowerPoint) commissioned by The Israel Project (TIP) shows that an overwhelming number of Americans (81%) believe that Iran poses a serious threat to the United States, and that the international community should prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons (86%).

Further, Americans agree (84%) that “even with all the problems the nation faces here at home, we must still work hard to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

TIP Founder Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi noted that, “While we may be mired in a recession and focused on the nation’s health care debate, there is no lack of concern among Americans about the potential threat posed by a nuclear Iran.”

Among possible approaches to deal with Iran, Americans favor a combination of approaches — supporting opposition groups in Iran that are working for democracy and human rights (86%), initiating direct talks between the U.S. and Iran (76%) and expanding UN economic and diplomatic sanctions (81%).

Most interesting was the two-thirds support given by Americans to a proposal to “prevent any company doing business in the United States if that company provides Iran with refined petroleum.”

Neil Newhouse, the Republican partner of TIP’s bi-partisan polling team, commented, “There is strong support among American voters to punish those companies that do business with Iran and help that nation’s repressive regime.”

Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, Ph.D. said, “This is a consensus issue from left to right. Americans do not want Iran to get nuclear weapons.”

This survey was conducted jointly by Public Opinion Strategies (POS)and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQRR) August 23-25, 2009, of 800 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.46%. Historical trend data is from surveys conducted by both POS and GQRR, and includes interviews of adults, registered voters, likely voters and opinion elites.