Fox News Poll: Obama not tough enough on Iran

January 28, 2015: U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the armed services farewell in honor of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

Most American voters continue to believe President Obama has been too easy on Iran -- and that it will take military force to stop the Iranian regime from getting nuclear weapons, according to a new Fox News poll released Thursday.

All in all, 7 in 10 voters say Obama has not been tough enough on Iran (70 percent). That number has remained roughly the same since 2009. And that tally includes 57 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 87 percent of Republicans.

Click for the full results of the poll (pdf)

Only a tenth as many -- seven percent -- think the president has been too tough on the Iranian regime.

In addition, a 62-percent majority thinks military force will be necessary to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, while 28 percent say that goal can be reached through diplomacy and sanctions alone. Here again, there’s agreement across political party lines: majorities of independents (52 percent), Democrats (53 percent) and Republicans (76 percent) think stopping Iran’s nuclear aims will take military action.

The United States and its allies came to a tentative agreement with Iran over limits on its nuclear program in November 2013, but subsequent efforts to reach a comprehensive, long-term deal have failed. Two deadlines have passed and a new deadline of June 30, 2015 has been established.

In general, Obama gets low marks on his handling of foreign policy: 34 percent of voters approved of his performance in mid-January vs. 57 percent who disapproved.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,009 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from January 25-27, 2015. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.