An increasing majority of Americans oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to a poll released yesterday by CNN. The poll further revealed that 60% of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama has handled negotiations with Tehran.

As Congress inches closer to a vote to approve or disapprove of the deal, 56% of Americans now say they think Congress should reject the deal with Iran — up from 52% less than a month ago — according to the latest CNN/ORC poll released Thursday.

And 6-in-10 Americans also disapprove of President Barack Obama’s handling of the U.S. relationship with Iran, according to the poll.

According to CNN’s poll, Americans who want Congress to reject the JCPOA outnumber those who want lawmakers to approve it by 56% to 41%, a 15 point margin. This is an increase from the 8 point margin reported in a CNN poll last month.

Widespread public disapproval of the JCPOA in the United States has been borne out by other polls. A Quinnipiac poll earlier this month showed Americans opposing the deal by a 2 to 1 margin. A week later, a Monmouth University poll showed that 3 to 1 Americans believed that Iran, rather than the United States, got the better end of the deal.

Last month, two polls released by The Israel Project – one focused on American Jews, the other concentrating on American registered voters – showed that the more that people learned of the deal, the less inclined they were to support it.

A draft of a side agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that was released by the Associated Press (AP) yesterday revealed that Tehran will be entrusted with collecting the environmental samples, pictures, and evidence from the suspected nuclear site at Parchin that international inspectors will review.

[Photo: WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore / YouTube ]