There's some discomfiting data from a recent YouGov survey. This is proof that we have a long way to go in changing people's minds about torture.
Forty-eight percent of Americans think it's "always" or "sometimes" okay to torture someone to get a suspected terrorist to reveal information about possible future attacks. Add in "rarely" and the total who say it's okay to torture, in some circumstances, rises to 66 percent, with 11 percent of the remainder answering "Don't know."
When it comes to specifics, people who think torture is ever okay draw the line in different places. A majority says it's all right to deprive someone of sleep. A one-point plurality thinks it's not okay to slam somebody against a wall. All but 11 percent think "rectal feeding" is going too far.
The survey showed significant gaps between what Democrats and Republicans count as okay. As you can see from the chart, only six percent of Democrats but 21 percent of Republicans think "rectal feeding" is acceptable. Twenty-one percent of Democrats but 60 percent of Republicans are okay with waterboarding suspects. More than half of the surveyed Republicans also thought it fine to threaten family members or threaten sexual violence against a suspect. Less than a fifth of Democrats agreed. But the yes-it's-okay respondents weren't asked whether it would be acceptable to actually carry out such threats.
The percentage "yes" likely would be disturbingly high.