Public favors tribunals and opposes terrorist rights
When you see these results you have to wonder why Bush's approval rating is so low. You get similar kinds of margin on withdrawing from Iraq. On energy the Democrat position is even worse. The disconnect between the polling on the issues and the generic ballot favoring Democrats is hard to explain.Most Americans believe suspected terrorists should be tried by military tribunals rather than in U.S. courts, as the first such trial began this week at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.
Seventy-one percent (71%) say the suspects should not be given the rights U.S. citizens have in court, while only 18% think they should, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national survey.
While some politicians, foreign officials and non-government groups like Amnesty International argue that the Bush administration is acting outside of the law in its treatment of these terrorist suspects, just 30% of Americans believe they should have access to U.S. courts, as opposed to 54% who favor the special military trials.
Nearly six out of 10 Americans (59%) also say the special prison camp for terrorists at Guantanamo, where the United States now detains 280 inmates, should not be closed. Twenty-six percent (26%) believe it should be.
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There does tend to be some visceral lack of trust of Republicans but the only issue where there is a connection between that distrust and Republicans is on smaller government and pork where some Republicans are just big government big spenders.
I favor keeping the terrorist at Gitmo until the war is over. If we are going to try them for war crimes the tribunals make the most sense.
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