[lbo-talk] Americans sorta like torture if it works

[Doug Henwood]

Dick Cheney’s pushback on torture this week is well-calibrated: It’s  
an issue on which public sentiment is somewhat more equivocal than  
President Obama’s own view. While most people oppose torture, that  
view is short of monolithic – and opposition softens if it’s presumed  
actually to work, as the former vice president argues.

This has been the case for years: Ask people if they support or oppose  
the use of torture, a straight up or down question, and majorities  
oppose it. But ask it with gradations and opposition is lower. And  
attach a direct positive attribute – possibly saving lives, or even  
definitely saving them – and opposition goes lower still.

See the blog item at: http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2009/04/obama-cheney-an.html