Most Americans think torture can be justified in certain situations, according to a survey conducted to see where Americans stand on issues relating to the recently released Senate report on the CIA's use of torturous interrogation practices.
The YouGov survey found that 66 percent of Americans believe torture can be justified -- either "always," "sometimes," or "rarely." Only 24 percent said torture can never be justified. A similar poll from 2012 found that 63 percent of people believed torture could be justified.
When asked whether they think the Senate report or the torture itself was more harmful to American interests, a total of 52 percent said publicizing the report does more harm than the actual torture practices.
Although a majority of respondents do approve of torture under certain rare circumstances, a majority also said they disapprove of many of the CIA interrogation and detention tactics used on detainees in Bush-era years following Sept. 11, 2001.
The most disliked technique was the practice of "rectal feeding" -- pumping food through a tube into the detainee's anus -- which 73 percent said was unacceptable to use against suspected terrorists who may know details about future attacks against the U.S.
Sleep deprivation was viewed as the most favorably used tactic, with 55 percent saying it was acceptable to use.
The partisan divide was quite apparent on most issues, with 38 percent of Democrats saying torture is never justified and only 11 percent of Republicans saying the same.
For the most part, Democrats said all tactics used were unacceptable, while considerably more Republicans believed almost all tactics were acceptable. The one torture tactic that was viewed extremely unfavorably across the political spectrum was the tactic of non-medically necessary forced rectal feeding.
In terms of reliability of information gathered using torture tactics, 54 percent of Democrats said the information was likely unreliable, while 56 percent of Republicans think it's reliable.
Fifty eight percent of all Americans said they think it's possible to fight terrorism without using torture, while 48 percent think it's impossible. Back in 2012, 54 percent said it was possible to fight without using torture.
