Thursday, June 19, 2008

43% is too high and I'm scared

Apparently, 43% of Americans believe that torture can be justified.

"More than four in ten Americans (43%) say that the use of torture can be justified to gain key information sometimes (31%) or often (12%), according to a 2007 Pew Research survey. However, a 54%-majority say torture is never (29%) or rarely (25%) justified. The number of Americans saying the use of torture against suspected terrorists is at least sometimes justified has been fairly stable since 2004, though the percentage saying torture can often be justified has dipped from 18% in October 2006."

I was not surprised to see that "more African Americans than whites say the torture of suspected terrorists is never justified (37% vs. 28%)".

Then again, that number makes sense when you factor in the amount of people who identify themselves as Republicans.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Republican, read: "Crypto Nazi" (expression courtesy of the inimitable Gore Vidal in reference to William J. Buckley)