Folks, I almost spilled my coffee reading this one. President Donald Trump has been trying to sell the Iran war to the public, and his main talking point is that Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal was a disaster. He’s mentioned it over three dozen times since the war began, according to CNN. I mean, you can’t blame the guy for trying, but it seems like he’s just not convincing anyone. A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll shows that only 23% of Americans think Trump will be able to get a better deal than Obama did back in 2015.
I was reading through the poll results, and it’s pretty interesting. 37% of Americans think Trump will actually get a worse deal, while 12% think it’ll be about the same. Even among Republicans, only 54% think Trump will bring about a better agreement. And let’s be real, that’s mostly because of his devoted backers – 70% of MAGA Republicans think he’ll get a better deal. But non-MAGA Republicans are about evenly split, and independents are mostly skeptical.
The poll also shows that Americans are just not confident in Trump’s ability to negotiate a better deal. And it’s not like they’re all experts on the Obama nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). I mean, it’s a complicated agreement, and Trump ripped it up nine years ago. But that’s kind of beside the point. The fact is, people just don’t think Trump will be able to do better.
It’s also worth noting that the JCPOA was pretty unpopular when it was first signed. A Pew Research Center poll in 2015 showed that Americans disapproved of it 49%-21%, and by 2016, a Gallup poll showed that Americans disapproved of it 57%-30%. So, it’s not like people were ever totally on board with the deal. But still, Trump’s pursuit of a new deal inspires even less confidence.
Trump has been bashing the Obama deal at every turn, calling it a complete sell-out to Iran that put the country on course to have a nuclear weapon. He’s even gone so far as to say that the Iranians “laughed at Obama and said he’s a stupid son of a bitch.” And during a recent appearance on Fox News, he called the deal “the worst agreement that has been signed by this country.” It’s pretty clear that he’s trying to make a case for why his deal will be better, but it’s just not convincing.
The thing is, Trump has invested a lot in this war – we’re talking tens of billions of dollars, dozens of American lives, and a huge impact on the global economy. And yet, people still prefer the agreement that Obama was able to strike using only diplomatic efforts. It’s not like Americans are eager for war, and it seems like they’re just not buying what Trump is selling.
In some ways, the finding isn’t surprising. Previous polls have shown that around two-thirds of Americans don’t think the war will actually do much to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And the new poll suggests that, if anything, Trump’s political problem in Iran has gotten worse. The Post-Ipsos poll indicates that 68% of Americans said the Iran war wasn’t worth fighting, which is more than ever said that for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new poll distills the crux of Trump’s problem: based on the precise standard he’s set for himself, the war seems like a failure. And with his disapproval on Iran now up to 69% as the midterm election ticks ever closer, it’s looking like this might be a major liability for him. All in all, it’s just another day in the wild world of politics, folks. 🙄 And I’ve got to say, I’m a little amused by the whole thing – after all, you can’t make this stuff up.
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
