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NEW POLLS SAYS CITIZENS WANT PROTECTION FROM TERRORISM BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF CIVIL LIBERTIES Read The Civil Liberties and Terrorism Poll Results FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2006 Contact: Roger C. Vann, Executive Director, 203-500-5190
HARTFORD, CT- Connecticut voters
want to see Congress take a stronger role in providing checks and balances to
the President's actions in fighting terrorism, and voice a strong preference
for House and Senate candidates who will oppose the President's policies on the
treatment of Guantanamo detainees, the use of torture and extraordinary
rendition of detainees as well as secret searches of the private records of
Americans, according to a recent survey of 600 Connecticut registered voters.
"This poll shows that the voters of Connecticut care
deeply about protecting our civil liberties, which have been under
unprecedented attack by the Bush Administration," said Connecticut ACLU
Executive Director Roger C. Vann. "We think it is important that this solid
support for civil liberties be a key part of the debate leading up to
November's elections. Candidates should
know that while the voters of Connecticut want protection from terrorism they
don't want it at the expense of their Constitutional rights," he said. "Those
who try to use terrorism as a political wedge issue are in for a rude
awakening."
In this time of an unpopular war
and a troubled economy, the survey reports that Connecticut voters
overwhelmingly view the country as on the wrong track (60 percent) versus going
in the right direction (33 percent), and they also voice strong support for the
protection of their civil liberties.
Two-thirds of Connecticut voters
(64 percent) reject President Bush's claim that he should be able to take
whatever actions are necessary to protect America from terrorists without the
checks and balances of Congress and the judiciary, while only three in ten (31
percent) believe the President should have the power to take whatever actions
he believes are necessary to protect the country from terrorism.
Looking to the November
elections, Connecticut voters strongly express a preference for candidates who
oppose policies the President has sought in the name of fighting terrorism. For
example:
-
Extraordinary
rendition: 72 percent would vote for a candidate who opposes "allowing government agents to capture people in
foreign countries and secretly fly them to other countries, and then torture
them to gather information about terrorism," over a candidate who supports it
(19 percent);
- Torture:
67 percent would vote for a candidate who opposes "the government
torturing prisoners to gather information about terrorism," over a
candidate who supports it (24 percent);
- Military
Tribunals: 59 percent would vote for a candidate who opposes "putting
detainees at Guantanamo military base on trial in military tribunals at
which the suspects are NOT allowed to see all of the evidence against them
and the government could use hearsay evidence obtained during the
interrogation of other terrorist suspects" over a candidate who supports
this (28 percent); and
- Holding
detainees without charges: 62 percent would vote for a candidate who
opposes "the government holding detainees at Guantanamo military base as
it has for the past five years without charging them with a crime or
without access to a lawyer," over a candidate who supports this (29
percent).
And, half of Connecticut voters
(49 percent) would be more likely - and 35 percent would be "much more likely"
- to support the Congressional candidate who "says the President is wrong when
he violates our laws and civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism and
we can protect America and at the same time uphold the Constitution" than the
candidate who "strongly supports the actions the President has taken in the
name of fighting terrorism and says we should be willing to give up some civil
liberties to keep Americans safe." A
third (35 percent) would be more likely to choose the candidate who supports
the President.
The ACLU is a non-partisan
organization that does not support or oppose candidates for elective
office. The organization works with
both Republicans and Democrats in advocating protections for civil liberties.
Recently, the ACLU hired two Republican former members of Congress to assist
with its lobbying efforts - Bob Barr of Georgia and J.C. Watts of Oklahoma.
The random sample telephone
interview survey was conducted for the ACLU by the Washington, D.C.-based
polling firm of Belden Russonello & Stewart Sept. 13-24, 2006, and has a
sampling error of plus or minus 4 percent.
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