POLL: Interrogation techniques OK, but still investigate

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.

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 of Americans–even years removed from an attack–believe the techniques are OK.

And while 51% still favor an investigation into the use of such techniques, Gallup notes that this number is pretty low:

While a slim majority favors an investigation, on a relative basis the percentage is quite low because Americans are generally quite supportive of government probes into potential misconduct by public officials. In recent years, for example, Americans were far more likely to favor investigations into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys (72%), government databases of telephone numbers dialed by Americans (62%), oil company profits (82%), and the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina (70%).

Gallup goes the extra step of combining the responses of these two questions to come up with this data:

-30% believe the techniques were OK and oppose an investigation
-25% believe the techniques were NOT OK and FAVOR an investigation
-24% believe the techniques were OK and FAVOR an investigation
-10% believe the techniques were NOT OK and OPPOSE an investigation

There’s a deep partisan split on both individual questions. 80% of Republicans believe the techniques were justified, as do 55% of independents. Only 39% of Democrats agree.

Meanwhile, 66% of Democrats want an investigation. Independents are evenly split (48-47%), while