Washington ( CNN ) -- A new national poll suggests that as President Barack Obama prepares to try to convince a skeptical American public why the U.S. should take military action against Syria , he may be partly to blame for the box he 's put himself into . The CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday indicates that Americans are divided evenly on whether Obama is a strong leader as well as whether he 's honest and trustworthy . `` One concern is the messenger himself , '' CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said . `` The public 's split right down the middle on whether Obama is a strong leader , whether he is honest and trustworthy , and whether he inspires confidence . '' Obama tells CNN a 'breakthrough ' is possible on Syria . And the poll also found that only one in five say they completely understand Obama 's Syria policy . A little more than half said they `` somewhat '' understand the administration 's game plan and about three in 10 said they are not very clear , or do n't understand at all , the administration 's strategy . Obama will get the opportunity to explain the policy directly to the American people when he addresses the nation at 9 p.m . ET Tuesday . CNN Poll : Most do n't approve of how Obama is handling foreign policy . War weariness is also partly to blame , the poll suggests â€ ” six in 10 say the Iraq war was a mistake and about half say the same thing about the war in Afghanistan . As a result , three-quarters say the U.S. should n't play the role of world policeman . `` The president 's challenge is profound , both from a personal and from a policy standpoint , '' said CNN Chief National Correspondent John King . `` Personally the country is split on their opinion of the president , and from a policy perspective they have huge doubts right now . '' Polls released on Monday showed that more than seven in 10 Americans said a strike would not achieve significant goals and a similar number said they did n't see how a strike on Syria would serve the national interest . A majority opposes Congress passing a resolution that would give Obama the authority to launch military operations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad , which Obama says is responsible for a chemical weapons attack on civilians that killed more than 1,000 people . CNN Poll : Most do n't want Obama to attack Syria . Members of Congress say they 're hearing that opposition from their constituents . While most members of the House and Senate say they 're undecided on how they 'll vote , the number of those who have made up their mind they will vote against it by far outnumber those who say they 'll vote for it . The president is also up against the fact that Syria is nowhere near the top issue for most Americans . `` Syria may be the topic 24/7 on Capitol Hill and at the White House , but nearly three times as many Americans say the economy 's the country 's top issue than say the same about Syria , '' Holland added . The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International September 6-8 , with 1,022 adult Americans questioned by telephone . The survey 's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points .
Americans are evenly divided on Obama leadership qualities and whether he 's trustworthy . White House has failed to explain its Syria plan -- only 1 in 5 say they fully understand it . War weariness is partly to blame : Three-quarters say U.S. should n't be world 's policeman .