A public opinion survey by Dina Smeltz and Emily Sullivan published on the website of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs showed that six in 10 (59%) respondents, including 73 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of Independents and 41 percent of Republicans, would support returning to the nuclear deal with Iran.
However, 36 percent would support keeping up with the current situation, i.e. US’ staying out of the deal and continuing the economic sanctions against Iran even if it risks Iran developing a nuclear weapon.
These respondent include 53 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of democrats and 36 percent of Independents.
If Tehran restarts development of a nuclear weapon, according to the survey, majorities of Americans would support tightening US economic and diplomatic sanctions (79%) and conducting cyberattacks (64%).
A majority reject using force to stop Iran’s nuclear development, although many others say that they would support air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities (46%) and the use of US troops (38%).
The survey also asked respondents if they agree with accepting Iran as a nuclear power besides countries like Russia and China and 50 percent of them agreed to some extent, while 10 percent strongly agreed with the idea, which was significantly higher than the answers to the same question last year. This shows that the acceptance of a nuclear Iran has significantly increased among the American public opinion.
Edited by: Tohid Mahmoudpour
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