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Americans disapprove Obama on Syria, Iran: Poll

gholami20130925144523687About half of the American people disapprove of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy when it comes to Iran and Syria, a new poll shows.

The latest New York Times and CBS News poll, which was taken before Obama’s UN speech, indicated that 49 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of foreign policy — the highest disapproval Obama has ever received on this measure.

The negative rating has increased among all political groups, with disapproval up 8 percentage points among Democrats, 10 points among Republicans and 13 points among independents.

According to the poll, 52 percent disapproved of the way the US president was handling the situation in Syria and 82 percent backed the US-Russia agreement to have Syria turn over all of its chemical weapons.

“I think he’s looking very weak, and he put us in a dangerous situation with Syria,” Arlene Woods, an independent voter from Ellicott City, Md., told the New York Times in a follow-up interview.

“I have a son in the military. When it doesn’t involve our own safety or security on our soil, then I don’t think it’s justifiable to use military force,” Woods added.

Some 68 percent of respondents also said Washington does not have a responsibility to do something about the conflict in Syria.

Regarding handling relations with Iran, 44 percent disapproved. Forty-one percent expect relations with Iran to stay the same, 32 percent expect the ties will worsen and 22 percent expect them to improve in the next few years.

The poll was conducted by telephone from September 19-23, 2013 among 1,014 adults nationwide.

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