terrorism

Poll: Most Americans Okay With Torturing Suspected Terrorists

Anti-Mukasey Protestors Hold Demonstration Of
America wants more of this. Photo: Mark Wilson / Staff

Time to get off our high horse. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found almost two-thirds of Americans approve of using torture to get information out of suspected terrorists.

In the poll — which, full disclosure, was an online poll — a quarter said torture is “often” justified, and 38 percent said it’s “sometimes” justified. Only 15 percent of respondents said they believed torture should never be used.

The results break down along ideological lines, with 82 percent of Republicans saying torture is “often” or “sometimes” justified, compared to 53 percent of Democrats.

Over at Reuters, they’re quick to point out that the American public is really going through a lot right now, what with the shooting in San Bernardino and recent terrorist bombings in Brussels. It’s also possible we’ve just watched too many episodes of 24.

At the very least, the new poll is a good argument against those who say Donald Trump could never win the presidency. In this instance, the presidential hopeful who said that “torture works” and that “we should go much stronger than waterboarding,” and who as recently as yesterday described the Geneva Conventions as a “problem” is clearly saying what most Americans want to hear.

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Poll: Majority of Americans Okay With Torture