OOPS: Feinstein Torture Report Polling Badly.

It turns out, however, that about half of Americans, who’ve been witnessing bomb attacks and barbaric beheadings, are just fine with the nasty CIA questioning and see real value in preventing future losses of American lives in unprovoked and unanticipated attacks. Rasmussen Reports this week surveyed 1,000 likely voters and found that 49% agreed with both Republican and Democrat former intelligence chiefs that such questioning produced valuable information that protected the country.

A similar percentage (47%) believe such aggressive interrogation methods should be used against these captives. Thirty-three percent were opposed while 20% claimed to be unsure.

Forty-nine percent of Democrats oppose enhanced interrogation. But those types evenly divide on whether the information gathered is valuable regardless.

Among Republicans and independents, the lines are clear. A majority of GOP members (64%) and a plurality of independents (48%) are good with water-boarding etc.

While 69% of Republicans and 46% of unaffiliateds believe valuable intel comes from them. The more that respondents have followed the Feinstein report and its torture allegations, the more value they see in such severe interrogations.

Interestingly, you get similar results from this YouGov poll. Interestingly, if you click through to the crosstabs there you find that more women than men think the Feinstein report has hurt American national security.

So was releasing the report (1) A partisan tactic that fizzled because the Dems didn’t know how it would poll; (2) A base-rallying technique; or (3) A bold act of principle done in the face of known unfavorable polling?

Meanwhile, most damning in the YouGov poll is that hardly anyone, of any gender or party, thinks the CIA is under the control of the President and Congress.