Poll: Public Does Not Want Torture Probe

CBS News/N.Y. Times Survey: Most Say Waterboarding Is Torture, But Disagree With Calls For Congressional Investigation

(CBS)  The recent release of detailed memos describing harsh interrogation techniques used on suspected terrorists under the Bush administration has fueled calls for a Congressional investigation.

But most Americans do not want an investigation, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

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Tonight's CBS News/New York Times Polls:
100 Days In, High Marks For Obama
Blacks See Improved Race Relations
Public Does Not Want Torture Probe
Support For Same Sex Marriage Grows
Full Results (PDF): Obama | Race Relations | Waterboarding
Full Coverage Of Obama's First 100 Days

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According to the poll, sixty-two percent of Americans do not think Congress should hold hearings to investigate the administration’s treatment of detainees. Only a third of Americans thinks Congress should investigate. That's the same proportion as thought so in February.

Republicans overwhelming oppose Congress holding such hearings, and sixty percent of independents agree. Democrats - much like Democratic representatives in Congress -- are more divided. Forty-six percent say Congress should hold hearings, while fifty-one percent say they are not necessary.



These numbers do not mean the public agrees with the tactics used under the Bush administration to interrogate detainees, however. While 37 percent think waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques are sometimes justified, 46 percent think these techniques are never justified.

And even more Americans - 71 percent - think the use of waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques constitutes torture.

Most Democrats think the use of such tactics are never justified, while most Republicans think they sometimes are justified. Independents are divided.

Opinions on whether waterboarding constitutes torture affect opinions on its use. Sixty percent of those who consider waterboarding to be torture think it is never justified, while 74 percent of those who think it is not torture think it sometimes is justified.



The poll also finds that there is no indication that the release of the memos has hurt perceptions of the Obama administration's dealings concerning terrorism. Most Americans approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling the threat of terrorism: 55 percent approve, while only 28 percent disapprove. Most Democrats and independents approve of the way he is handling the issue, while most Republicans disapprove.

Forty-six percent of Republicans have charged the Obama administration with making the country less safe from the threat of terrorism, but only 19 percent of Americans overall think that is the case. Slightly more - 23 percent - think the Obama administration has made the U.S. safer. Half do not think there has been any change. Democrats give the president far higher marks for making the country safer than do Republicans.

This is one area in which Americans expressed general satisfaction with the previous administration's track record. Even as late as the beginning of September 2008 - when only 29 percent of Americans approved of the way George W. Bush was handling his job as president - 50 percent thought his administration had made the country safer.

In addition, one particular policy on which many Americans agree with the previous administration - and disagree with Mr. Obama -- is whether or not to continue to use the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold suspected terrorists. Forty-four percent of Americans think the base should be shut down, while 47 percent think it should remain operational.

Views on Guantanamo Bay have changed little in the past few months. Most Democrats want to close the base, while most Republicans and independents think the base should remain open.

Also of note in this poll is that Americans continue to hold a dim view of the Bush presidency overall. Just 23 percent of Americans approve of how George W. Bush handled his job as president and seventy percent disapprove - a standing that has not improved in the 100 days since he's been out of office.

Six in 10 Republicans approve of the way Bush handled his job as president, while the vast majority of Democrats and independents disapprove.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney - who has emerged recently as perhaps the Bush administration’s most vocal defender - also remains unpopular with most Americans. Only 19 percent of Americans view Cheney favorably, while more than twice as many - 42 percent - hold an unfavorable opinion of him. Thirty-eight percent say they are undecided or don't know.

Cheney remains popular with many Republicans, however - 50 percent say they have a favorable opinion of the former vice president. Democrats and independents hold a negative opinion of him.

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 973 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone April 22-26, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

An oversample of African Americans was interviewed, for a total of 212 interviews with African Americans. The results then weighted in proportion to the racial composition of the adult population in the U.S. Census. The margin of error for the sample of African Americans is 7 points.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[OregonJames]

Sadly, the news media continues to speak as waterboarding was the only torture used by Bush and Cheney. Look for yourself to find how many died during the so-called enhanced interrogations. Look at the pictures of the beaten and bloodied prisoners and ask if this was from waterboarding. Ask yourself if you were kept awake for eleven days and brutalized numerous times every day, would it be torture?

The media is lying by ommission. You must find the truth for yourself, because half-truths are all you will find here.

[JamesMv]

The main point is the article is flawed. A majority saying the hearing 'is not necessary' is completely different then a majority saying they oppose it. Everyone knows wording changes the way people respond to polls, and yet CBS changes their wording dramatically from the poll's wording when they report it: in other words, if you asked what they're reporting on ( opposition to torture hearings) you'd get a much different set of poll numbers.

It's basic poll statistics. Doesn't CBS know that? Fox News doesn't, but CBS ought to.

[PENWEL]

GOOD LAWS ARE A MUST IN CIVILIZED SOCIETIES, TO KEEP THOSE SOCIETIES CIVILIZED. WHEN A GOOD LAW IS TRAMPLED ON WITH IMPUNITY TO THE OFFENDER, FOR POLITICAL REASONS OR WHATEVER. THAT GOOD LAW THEN BECOMES NIL AND CAN LEAD A SOCIETY TO COPY-CAT THINKING -- IF OTHERS CAN BREAK THE LAW WITH IMPUNITY, WHY NOT ME TOO? A GOOD LAW BROKEN WITH IMPUNITY, CAN PRODUCE THE SOUR FRUITS OF DISREGARD FOR ALL LAWS. DEGRADING AN OTHERWISE MODERN SOCIETY BACK TO THE AGE OF THE DINOSAURS, WHEN THE ONLY LAW OF THE LAND WAS SELF-SURVIVAL...

[PENWEL]

TORTURE? HUMAN CIVILIZED SOCIETIES, IN THESE MODERN EDUCATED TIMES, SHOULDN'T CONDONE THE HEINOUS PRACTICE OF TORTURE. INFLICTING PAIN ON ANOTHER IS NOT RATIONAL THINKING, NOR IS IT HUMANE. WE CAN'T LOSE OUR MORAL AND UPRIGHT STANDING AND GOOD EXAMPLE TO THE WORLD, BY ADOPTING THE SAVAGERY AND MINDLESS BEHAVIOR OF AN ENEMY WHO IS STILL IN THE MEDIEVAL AGES. WE HAVE TO CIVILIZE AN ENEMY, NOT LET AN ENEMY DEGRADE US BY ADOPTING AN ENEMIES MINDLESS WAYS. REVENGE IS A PLATE BETTER SERVED COLD. ADOPTING THE DEVILS WAYS, WILL NEVER GET US OFF THE ROAD TO HELL, WE SEE OURSELVES SLOWLY AND INSIDIOUSLY BEING DRAWN TO, IN TODAYS MODERN WORLD OF DISCONTENT...

[SperrySphere]

We're almost six months into the Obama administration and Bush is more alive than ever, sad that it takes nothing more than a little griping and complaining about our safety being protected than this. Interrogate in whatever manner is necessary to keep our children safe from the monsters who cooked up 9/11. It may not have occurred to some of you that the passengers of those four planes would have preferred they and their children be waterboarded as opposed to having their lives taken from them. The Obama administration needs to move forward, quit spending trillions, and start governing for the people.

[globalcoolin]

Waterboarding is interrogation , and tough-- but those who are saying it's "torture" for the politics of it, are advocating that other tough interaction is the next threashold of "torture" to be elliminated!
And projected further will have us in an absurd position of not even being able to handcuff these captured terrorist!
This is the whole point Pelosi and others are persuing! Make it illegal to manage terrorist we capture and who have important information! Lifesaving information! They are trying to cripple our ability to wage effect war against a clear enemy who are proven to be violent!
If the terrorist found their stay in captivity tough--I don't care!
I do question the ethics and character of Pelosy who is a liar! Walking California sleaze.

[iam4honesty]

Although I strongly support the prosecution and punishment of those in our government who were party to these crimes, I would have answered the question as the majority did. I DO NOT FEEL THAT HEARINGS ARE NECESSARY. There is sufficient evidence now to prosecute.

This is a very misleading poll.

[annrobbins]

I HAVE BEEN TORTURED MENTALLY PHYSICALLY AND I BELIEVE SEXUALLY; CONSECUTIVELY FOR 3 POSSIBLY 4 YEARS NOW. I AM AN AMERICAN AND I AM 36 YEARS OF AGE A FEMALE. I AM THE GIRL THE REST OF YOU CALL ( IT ). WHILE THIS POLL IS BEING CONDUCTED I AM BEING TORTURED TO THE PIONT OF MURDER , THE TACTICS TALKED ABOUT IN CUBA WILL NEVER COMPARE TO THE TRUTH THAT I GO THROUGH . I AM NO LONGER A FREE CITIZEN AND PUBLICLY TREATED AND VIEWED AS LESS THAN HUMAN THE TORTURE IS MORE THAN YOU PROBABLY KNOW OR COULD EVER UNDERSTAND . THE TORTURE GO'S FROM CONSTANT. NOISE, IF I HAVE BEEN CRYING OR I WONT GET UP AND WHEN I WALK INTO MY BACKYARD SOMEONE IS ALWAYS AROUND ME TO DISTURB THE PEACE MOSTLY W/ A LAWN TOOL. FROM THE MOMENT THE NOISE STARTS I FEEL SHATTERED . PUBLIC MA-HAWKING !

CHEMICAL EXPOSURE FROM IN MY OWN HOME ! TO PUBLIC PLACES OF SEVICE !

explosives !

PHYSICAL PAIN , EXTREME MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE , I HAVE DONE NOTHING TO HURT THIS COUNTRY OR MY GOVERNMENT !!!!
YOU KNOW WHO I AM IT
PLEASE MAKE THIS STOP . IF THOSE MEN HAD GONE THOUGH THE LAST 4 YEARS OF MY LIFE WE WOULD HAVE STOPED THE BAY .
ARE ANY OF THOSE MEN CLOSE TO DEATH OR DEAD?
DO ANY OF THOSE MEN HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE AFTER water boarding?

THEY HAVE EACH OTHER AND A PERCENTAGE POLL DECLARING THAT THERE TORTURE IS RECOGNIZED AS REAL .

PEACE OF MIND FOR MEN WHO WILL NEVER TRULY UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS COUNTRY MENT BEFORE 911

[cbs_bull]

Can we still call the US a country ruled by law if we can't punish those who started a wrong war, did torture, crashed the world economy, etc?

[melpol1]

There are many levels of physical pain that people inflict on one another. Sexual assault or rape is not the leading one. A prostitute will accept any customer. Raping a prostitute means trying to get a freebie. Lubrication of the vagina or anus relieves their pain. Torture easily leads the list. The recent exposure of water boarding opens up an awareness of unbelievable pain. A tortured victim will falsely confess to murder. It is a horror under any circumstance and should be outlawed. Sexual assault is also wrong even if a secondary level of physical pain. Forcing a person to have sex is a serious crime and should be prosecuted with the full extent of the law.