American Support For Torture Has Grown

This is beyond depressing:

Data shows that popular opinion on the use of torture by the U.S. government has subtly shifted since 2004, when Pew Research Center began polling Americans on the subject. Pew asked whether torture used against suspected terrorists to gain important information is justified, finding a majority of respondents (53 percent) said torture could never or only rarely be justified. But over the next five years, public opinion slowly reversed.

By November 2009, a slight majority of Americans said for the first time that torture could sometimes be justified. In Pew’s 2011 report — its most recent — 53 percent said the U.S. government’s use of torture against suspected terrorists to gain important information can often (19 percent) or sometimes (34 percent) be justified, marking a turnaround from 2004.

But Aaron Blake finds that not all polling is in agreement:

Pew in 2011 showed 24 percent of Americans said torture should “never” be used — little-changed from the 25 percent who said that same in 2009. But also in 2009, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Americans were actually about evenly split on torture, with 48 percent saying it could be used “in some cases” and 49 percent saying “never.”

The reason for the even split? Probably because people were given just two options rather than four. And so people who might otherwise say torture should “rarely” be used are temped to say “never,” because they really don’t like the idea of it. … So in sum, depending on how you ask the question, support for using torture in at least some cases — even rare ones — has polled at 70 percent-plus, around 50 percent, and also at just 38 percent.