These are the topline results of a YouGov/Huffington Post survey of 1000 US adults interviewed December 16-18 on interrogation. The results show that most think it's worse to wrong release terrorists than wrongly detain the innocent. The margin of error is 4.2%.
Click here to see full tables and demographic crossbreaks
When it comes to protecting the country from terrorism, some people say it’s more important to ensure people’s constitutional rights, even if it means that some suspected terrorists are never found. Others say it’s more important to find every potential terrorist, even if some innocent people are seriously hurt. Which is closer to your view?
More important to ensure people’s constitutional rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49%
More important to find every potential terrorist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
Thinking about the U.S.’ anti-terrorism efforts, which of these do you consider worse?
Releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention . . . . . . . . . . . . 55%
Wrongly detaining innocent people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9%
Do you feel...
Asked of those who considered one response to be worse than the other
That releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention is MUCH WORSE than wrongly detaining innocent people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37%
That releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention is only slightly WORSE than wrongly detaining innocent people . . . . . . . . . . . .19%
That wrongly detaining innocent people is only slightly WORSE than releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
That wrongly detaining innocent people is MUCH WORSE than releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9%
A report on the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation program found that at least 22 percent of prisoners were wrongly detained, including several who were subjected to torture. Do you think this is:
Acceptable – some mistakes are unavoidable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27%
Unacceptable – some mistakes are unavoidable, but that number is too high . . . . . . . 33%
Unacceptable – the U.S. should never subject an innocent person to torture . . . . . . . . 30%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
