Fox News Poll: Iran and the Bomb Equals Disaster

A majority of American voters think military force will be necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons program, and many think it will be “a disaster” if Iran gains nuclear capabilities.

A Fox News poll released Tuesday finds that 60 percent of voters think force will be required to stop Iran, while 25 percent think diplomacy and sanctions alone will work.

PDF: Click here for full poll results.

Just over half of Democrats (51 percent) and independents (51 percent) think force will be necessary, as do three-quarters of Republicans (75 percent).

If Iran were to obtain the capability to use nuclear weapons, 56 percent think that would be “a disaster,” while 37 percent call it “a problem that can be managed” and 3 percent say it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Despite a slim majority of Democrats thinking it would be a disaster (51 percent), a large minority think it would be a problem that could be managed (42 percent). In stark contrast, Republicans -- by a wide 36 point margin -- think Iran with nukes would be a disaster (60 percent).

President Obama’s job rating for handling Iran stands at 41 percent approval and 42 percent disapproval, with the remaining 17 percent of voters unsure. For his handling of terrorism, 50 percent of voters say they approve and 40 percent say they disapprove. The president receives his highest approval rating on Afghanistan, with 51 percent approving of his handling of the war. That’s up from 49 percent in December.

The national telephone poll was conducted for Fox News by Opinion Dynamics Corp. among 900 registered voters from Feb. 23 to Feb. 24. For the total sample, the poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Overall, 47 percent of voters approve of the job President Obama is doing and almost as many -- 45 percent -- disapprove. In earlier February, the president received his lowest job ratings to date when 46 percent approved and 47 percent disapproved (Feb. 2-3, 2009).

U.S. Court versus Military Tribunal

Many voters -- 57 percent -- think the five detainees accused of conspiring to commit the September 11 terrorist attacks should be tried in a military tribunal. Just over a third (35 percent) thinks they should be tried in the U.S. court system.

If the detainee were Usama bin Laden, the number thinking it should be in a military tribunal increases to 66 percent, while 25 percent would put bin Laden on trial in a regular U.S. criminal court.