Public Opinion About
the use of Torture
Paul Gronke and Darius Rejali
Reed College
Abu Ghraib
Obama
Administration
CCES
Observations
Support/Oppose Torture:
Recently, there has been a lot of debate about the use of torture against suspected terrorists.
We'd like to know what you think about this.
How comfortable do you feel about the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to
gain important information? (It can often / It can sometimes / It can rarely / It can never be
justified.)
2008 CCES
2010 CCES
Often
18.1%
25.3%
Sometimes
28.8%
29.3%
Rarely
23.5%
19.9%
Never
29.6%
25.5%
Unpacking Support 1:
A Failed (?) Survey Experiment
“Suppose that the US is holding a prisoner and intelligence sources say
we are ALMOST CERTAIN / 50-50 CHANCE that he has information that
is critical to stopping a planned terrorist attach in the United States.
Suppose there is a torture technique that is ALMOST CERTAIN / 50-50
CHANCE to get this information from the prisoner. Would you favor or
oppose using the torture technique as a way of trying to get the
information?”
Value/Effica Strong/Stro
cy
ng
Strong/Mod Moderate/S Moderate/
erate
trong
Moderate
Total
Favor
26%
22%
28%
24%
45%
Oppose
24%
24%
26%
26%
36%
DK
22%
21%
26%
31%
19%
Total
24%
23%
27%
26%
Chi=4.20
(p=.649)
Unpacking Support for Torture 2
Concept
Variable (0-1 unless specified)
Coefficient
SE
Ideology
Conservatism (1-5)
.300
.037 **
Fear
Problem: Terrorism or Islamism
Fanaticism
.042
.074
Moralism
Support the death penalty
.597
.095 **
Attitudes toward
Muslims
Positive Adjective Pairs (0-100)
-.013
.001 **
Contact with Muslims
-.206
.091 *
Attitudes toward
Military Force
Use military to destroy a terrorist
camp?
.045
.092
War in Afghanistan a mistake?
-.027
.073
No military contacts
-.188
.075 *
Education (1-6)
-.040
.023
Age (years)
-.003
.003
Born Again
-.082
.082
Female
.095
.069
Constant
2.099
2.86
Demographics
Notes: Dep Var = 1-4 support for torture. N=586, Adj. R2=.4332. **=p<.01, *=p<.05