On the heels of another poll revealing that Americans hold an unfavorable view of the Muslim world comes this: “Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Opposed to Closing Gitmo,” from Fox News, June 2:
Americans are strongly opposed to shutting the doors of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, or moving terrorism suspects to detention centers in the U.S., according to a recent poll.
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Tuesday found that those surveyed oppose the closing of Guantanamo by more than 2-1.
By more than 3-1, respondents oppose moving the detainees to prisons within the U.S., according to the poll.
Sixty-five percent of Americans polled said they do not support closing Guantanamo and sending its detainees to U.S. prisons while just 32 percent said they did support the idea.
President Obama signed an executive order in January to close within a year the prison at Guantanamo — widely perceived by many as a symbol of U.S. abuse and torture around the world.
But critics charge that Obama has jeopardized U.S. national security by deciding to close Guantanamo by January 2010.
And former Vice President Dick Cheney has publicly defended harsh interrogation techniques practiced at Guantanamo, claiming they helped obtain useful information.
The poll surveyed 1,015 adults by phone from Friday through Sunday, and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.