PAAIA Survey Reveals Iranian American Views on Protests and Human Rights in Iran
Contact: Shannon Kuehn
Email: shannon@paaia.org
Phone: (202) 828-8370
Washington, DC – The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization serving the interests of the Iranian American community, today released the findings of its 2023 National Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans. The survey was conducted from January 27th – February 7th of this year and is based on a representative sample of Iranian Americans.
Click here to read the complete survey report.
“As we release the findings of our survey, it is clear that Iranian Americans care deeply about what is happening in Iran.” said Leila Austin, Executive Director of PAAIA. “Iranian Americans have expressed overwhelming support for the protest movement in Iran and they expect their community’s civic and advocacy organizations, as well as the U.S. government, to prioritize the advancement of democracy and promotion of human rights in Iran.”
Nearly six months after Mahsa Amini’s death in September of 2022, the survey finds that Iranian Americans overwhelmingly (91%) believe the protests in Iran will have a positive impact on the country’s socio-political evolution and are in favor of the U.S. government taking action to support the protestors. However, there is no majority consensus on how best to accomplish this, with supporting Internet access (38%), banning Iran’s leadership and their families from moving to the U.S. (34%), and tightening sanctions on human rights violators (29%) as the top three choices. Only 6% of Iranian Americans believe that the U.S. should not get involved with the protest movement in Iran.
When it comes to broader U.S.-Iran relations, the promotion of human rights and democracy (51%) continues to be the most important issue for Iranian Americans, followed by regime change (41%), and lifting the U.S. trade embargo (31%) with the hope of supporting economic growth in Iran.
The survey found a notable shift in opinion regarding the prospect of deal-making with Iran. Just 15% of respondents favored returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), half of the percentage that supported this option in 2020. Instead, 41% favored making a more comprehensive deal that would address Iran’s nuclear ambitions, engagement in regional and international conflicts, and human rights violations, while 38% were against any deal. This marks a 12-point increase in the percentage of respondents who reject the idea of a deal.
When asked about President Biden’s handling of U.S.-Iran relations, three-quarters of Iranian American respondents (75%) give the President negative ratings, while only 23% give his handling of U.S.-Iran relations positive ratings. Surprisingly, Democrats (76%) and Independents (79%) are slightly more likely to give negative ratings than Republicans (70%).
The survey also asked Iranian Americans to rate their views of various Iranian leaders. Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian human rights lawyer, received the highest net favorability among the leaders listed, with a score of +26, followed closely by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and former soccer player Ali Karimi, both at +20. Net favorability is very negative for reformist politician and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi (-36), MEK leader Maryam Rajavi (-46), and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi (-55).
The survey conducted by Zogby Research Services for PAAIA utilized a hybrid method of online and live operator telephone surveys. Weighting techniques were used to best represent the demographics of the population being surveyed, and the margin of error for the survey was +/- 4.9 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95%.
Click here to read the complete survey report.
Since 2008, PAAIA has commissioned nationally recognized pollsters to conduct its Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans.
