July 29, 2022
A new poll shows President Raisi has an approval rating among Iranians that is stunningly low, with the public very unhappy with the way things are going and expecting them to get worse. Most Iranians think the government should make a deal with the West over its nuclear program to make things better in Iran.
The poll was conducted over the phone by Washington-based Stasis Consulting at the behest of the Canada-based news website, IranWire.
The poll, conducted among 1,197 Iranian residents June 12-16, shows President Raisi’s job approval rating at 28 percent, which is a record low for any sitting Iranian president in the first year in office in the quarter century since public opinion poll data was first collected on the question.
The lowest approval ratings for any American presidents in the Gallup Polls were 22 percent for Harry Truman in 1952, shortly before his term ended, and 23 percent for Richard Nixon in 1974, shortly before he resigned. The lowest Gallup approval rating for Joseph Biden was 40 percent in January.
The survey also shows that most Iranians distrust the government, and are pessimistic about the future. The single factor that Iranians thought could most positively impact the future of the country is a successful nuclear agreement between Iran and the West.
The poll showed that after 10 months in office only 28 percent of the Iranians polled approve of Raisi’s performance while 64 percent disapprove and 9 percent had no opinion or declined to respond.
Those less happy with Raisi were younger Iranians, better-educated people and urban residents. Some 23 percent of Iranians aged 18-to-29 approved of Raisi’s performance while those 60 and older gave him a 40 percent approval rating, a huge difference. Some 24 percent of urban Iranians approved while 39 percent of rural dwellers approved. And 22 percent of college graduates gave him a thumbs-up while 30 percent of those without a college education approved.
Although news of the poll was not published inside Iran, the daily Iran News, which is owned by the government and subject to the dictates of Raisi, carried a story that contested the low rating given Raisi, saying 69 percent of Iranians enjoy life and that 52 percent blame the country’s problems on the previous Administration. The daily also said three unnamed polls show that 70 percent of Iranians have high hopes for the future based on their satisfaction with the policies of the Raisi Administration.
The far-right daily Jomhuri Eslami treated that story with disdain, commenting, “Probably, according to the same survey, 200 percent of the people say, ‘It’s really cool that we’ve been favored with unprecedented inflation’.”
Perhaps most devastating was that only 51 percent of those who said they voted for Raisi last year said they would vote for him now if the vote were held again.
Asked if things would get better in the next year, 58 percent said they would get worse and only 19 percent expected things to get better while 9 percent anticipated no change.
Turning to the revival of the nuclear agreement, only 17 percent said Iran should walk away from the agreement, while 55 percent said Raisi should make a deal and 29 percent gave no answer. A total of 54 percent said reviving the deal would improve conditions; only 7 percent felt a deal would make things worse.
Those polled were asked what they felt were the most important issues facing the country. They could choose more than one issue so the results totaled more than 100. But only one issue was heavily emphasized: 87 percent cited the economy, with housing coming in second at 13 percent. No other issue drew double digits: 8 percent said political liberties were a key concern; 6 percent cited corruption; and 2 percent cited the environment.
On the issue of the war in Ukraine, where the regime is supporting Russia, 35 percent said they sympathized with Ukraine with only 13 percent backing Russia. Another 24 percent supported neither side and 29 percent declined to state a position.
Stasis said the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.