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Public opinion on torture
Political Animal —
... found that 49% of respondents agreed that the United States should not torture, while 48% who believe torture is sometimes acceptable. The same poll, however, found that a 51% majority supports an investigation into Bush administration officials who may have broken the law in this area. Gallup published a new poll today, which has similar results, but one unexpected twist. A new Gallup Poll finds 51% of Americans in favor and 42% opposed to an investigation into the use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects during the Bush administration. At the same time, ...
POLL: Interrogation techniques OK, but still investigate
News —
... A slim majority of Americans believe the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the Bush administration were justified but still favor investigation into possible abuses, a new Gallup poll finds. 55% of respondents said that the "use of harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists was justified," compared to 36% who said it was not. [image] The Obama administration has been trying to emphasize that the President has banned the techniques under dispute, hoping to leave the entire issue behind then. That might not be a politically winning argument if a majority ...
Poll: Narrow Majority Favors Investigation Of "Harsh Interrogation Techniques"
TPM Election Central —
... A new Gallup poll finds that a narrow majority of Americans favor investigations of interrogation methods -- though it's not a resounding mandate, relative to other issues. ...
Poll Watch: Majority Say CIA Harsh Interrogations Justified
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog —
... Yet, a slim majority also say that they favor a government investigation into the use of harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects. ...
Turning A Blind Eye
Newshoggers.com —
... When a government is responsible for immoral acts in it's citizens name those citizens must decide how to react. The flood of information on torture has put the American people in that position. I was disappointed to see that a majority think that torture was justified. That may be in part the result of ignorance and a hangover from the atmosphere of fear pushed by the Bush administration and the right since 911. I was at the same time glad to see that a small majority favor an investigation. Such an investigation should help to neutralize the ignorance. ...
Number of the Day
Shakesville —
51. The percentage of Americans who favor a government investigation of the use of "harsh interrogation techniques" in a new Gallup poll. ...
Gallup: 55% Says Terrorists Were Asking For It
Weekly Standard Blog —
... A majority of Americans (55%) say that the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques was "justified," which according to the nattering nabobs of the net-left means that more than half of all Americans are un-American torture apologists. I was struck by a line in Paul Krugman's column last week that seemed to capture the left's total disconnect on this issue. Krugman ...
Explaining the Contradictory Torture Polling
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right —
Apologies for the light posting today; it's just been one of those days that isn't very conducive to blogging. But I wanted to comment briefly on the apparently contradictory polling result from Gallup which suggests that, while most Americans think "harsh interrogation techniques" against suspected terrorists are justified, a 51 percent majority also want a federal investigation into the use of these techniques. ...
Remainders: Swineless
Ben Smith's Blog —
A slim majority want torture investigated.
Pelosi gets tripped up on the issue.
Walter Shapiro considers the first 100 days of the ... McCain administration.
A member of Obama's faith council turns critic.
The Office of Urban Affairs isn't making much of an impression.
Ben Pershing thinks swine flu may trump the (endless) 100 days coverage.
Haley Barbour keeps his options open.
Rudy wants to wait; Lazio may not let him.
The Hillary-ite organization NoLimits ...
New Gallup Torture Poll: Still Asking the Wrong Question
Daily Kos —
Following up on David's earlier post on the WaPo/ABC torture poll, Gallup has now released its poll on "harsh interrogation techniques." Let us just divert from our regular program here for a moment. If the Department of Defense's own Joint Personnel Recovery Agency calls it torture, and the International Red Cross--the international agency officially tasked with monitoring international detention--call it torture, it's torture. It's not "harsh interrogation techniques." At least WaPo called it torture. That said, here's what Gallup ...
Will Myriad of Problems Push Torture Issue to the Side?
Politics Daily —
... Gallup released a poll Monday that shows a slim majority of Americans are in favor of an investigation, while a majority also believes in retrospect that the use of these interrogation methods, which many have described as torture, was justified. ...
The More They Talk The Better We Do
JustOneMinute —
Gallup releases some interesting survey results: However, Gallup also notes that among respondents "following the story closely", 40% favor an investigation and 58% oppose it. Looks like the JournoListes have their work cut out for them. Some background: A similar divide occurs on the second question:55% of all respondents say "Justified", versus 36% saying no. But among the self-identified who claim to be following the story closely, 61% say harsh techniques were justified and 37% say no. I'll guess that difference lacks statistical significance. Gallup also provides some ...
Americans like their torture
The Reaction —
... According to this Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans think that "the use of harsh interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects was justified." ...
New Conservative NY Times Columnist, Wishes We Could Have Stuck A Fork In Conservatism After The Last Election
Ace of Spades HQ —
... of its political viability. I eagerly await further columns from Dothat so we can learn what 'real conservatism' is. Something tells me it will all sorts of nifty new social programs and spending. Awesome! As for this column, well there's nothing like 'conservatives' who describe fellow conservatives in cartoonish terms. With friends like these.... Second, would Cheney have lost? Probably but you know what? Enhanced interrogation techniques are more popular with voters than they are with the chattering classes . I hate to break it to Ross but the Democrats don't do well ...
Gallup Headline: Slim Majority Want Bush-Era Interrogations Investigated Not the Gallup Headline: Larger Majority Feel Such Interrogations Were Justified
Ace of Spades HQ —
Gallup Headline: Slim Majority Want Bush-Era Interrogations Investigated Not the Gallup Headline: Larger Majority Feel Such Interrogations Were Justified That's not the Gallup headline, but it could have been -- and should have been. Also not making the cut for the headline: Among those who are following the story closely, 58% oppose investigations, and 61% feel the interrogations were justified. In other words, the more you actually know, the more favorably you view Bush's policies.
Liberals: Impeach "torture memo" judge
The Swamp —
... Yet according to a Gallup poll released yesterday, only a slim majority of all Americans want the Bush-era detainee interrogations investigated. Just 51 percent said they are in favor of an investigation; 42 percent are opposed. A majority, 55 percent, said that using the harsh interrogation techniques was justified -- only 36 percent said they were not. ...
Gallup: 55% support harsh interrogations of terrorists
Hot Air » Top Picks —
... Further evidence that, like the AIG bonus tax, the Democrats are going to make this subject go bye-bye very soon, and very quietly. The more people know about this subject, the more comfortable with it they seem to be: Whereas 55 percent overall approve of harsh interrogation, 61 percent who are following the story “very closely” do. Likewise, while 51 percent overall support a government investigation of interrogations, 58 percent who are following the story very closely oppose it — a finding that jibes with a ...
Tomgram: Karen Greenberg, Human Rights in the Dust
TomDispatch —
... While Americans remain deeply divided on the use of, investigation of, and prosecution of Bush-era torture practices, at least the subject has now burst into the center of political discussion and debate. In the wake of the Obama administration's ...
Armchaired by the distance of history
Flopping Aces —
... This is what I mean by an argument without end. For all of the facts we now have, and those that may still emerge, I doubt they will convince the American public decisively to side either with Obama or Cheney. And where there is uncertainty there will continue to be fear. This helps to explain the recent paradoxical findings from a major Gallup poll that a slight majority of Americans believe both that “enhanced” interrogations were justified and that past instances of their use should be investigated for misconduct. ...
