Poll: Majority want Congress to reject Iran nuclear deal

Most Americans say Congress should reject the international deal brokered by the Obama administration over Iran’s nuclear program, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday.

A majority, 56 percent, want lawmakers to reject the deal, up slightly from the 52 percent who voiced that position in the same poll last month. Forty-one percent say Congress should accept the deal.

{mosads}Six in 10 Americans, 60 percent, disapprove of how President Obama is handling relations with Iran, up from 48 percent back in April shortly after a framework agreement with Tehran was unveiled.

Half of Americans, 50 percent, favor a deal lifting economic sanctions in exchange for new limits on Iran — but not entirely ending its nuclear program — while 46 percent oppose such an agreement.

The poll comes ahead of a likely September vote on a measure disapproving of the Iran deal in Congress.

Republicans are uniformly opposed to the deal. Obama has vowed to veto any measure that blocks the deal, meaning that critics would need two-thirds in both chambers to override him.

Support among Democrats has grown over the five-week August recess. In the Senate, only two Democrats, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), have publicly their voiced opposition.

The survey of about 500 U.S. adults was conducted Aug. 13-16 on landlines and cellphones and has a 4.5-point margin of error.