Most people in the United States condemn the use of waterboarding by the American military and intelligence agencies, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,010 American adults, 49 per cent of respondents disapprove of the practice known as waterboarding—33 per cent of them strongly.

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60 percent of Americans approve of having an international convention saying that "governments should never use physical torture." Additionally majorities supported the ban of specific "enhanced interrogation" techniques.

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More approve of Obama’s handling of international affairs (61%) and terrorism (57%) than they do of his handling of the economy (56%) and health care (53%), the two top domestic issues. More approve of Obama’s handling of Iran (52%) than approve of his handling of the budget deficit (48%) and the auto giants (45%). Other recent polls have shown similar findings.

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Half of the poll respondents said closing the prison would have no effect on protecting the nation from terror threats, but 3 in 10 said they thought it would make the United States less safe. Many of the detainees being held at the prison have not been charged, and nearly 7 in 10 people surveyed said they would support charging them or releasing them back to the country of their capture. Just 24 percent said the detainees should continue to be held without charge for as long as the government deems necessary.

59 per cent of respondents believe the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo boosted anti-American sentiment in the world and despite a majority who felt "harsh Interrogation techniques" were necessary to prevent another terrorist attack, 51 per cent would launch an official investigation to review whether any laws were broken in the way terrorism suspects were treated under the Bush administration...

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Using a new survey dataset on torture collected during the 2008 election combined with a comprehensive archive of public opinion on torture, this whitepaper shows that a majority of Americans have been opposed to torture.

Most Favor UN Taking a Larger Role in Promoting Human Rights A WorldPublicOpinon.org sudy of 25 nations worldwide has found a remarkable degree of consensus in support of the principles enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary on December 10... Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, comments: "It is quite remarkable to find this high degree of consensus on so many questions regarding human rights, especially given how much conflict there

New public opinion research on Human Rights from The Opportunity Agenda examines the opinion of three key audiences on human rights in the U.S. as applied to social justice issues: the American public, social justice advocates not currently using the human rights approach, and journalists who regularly cover social issues. While the research focuses on the domestic application of a human rights framework, the results and recommendations address international human rights mechanisms, including treaties and the UN, and should be interesting to all human rights advocates.