Washington—A public opinion poll released today finds an overwhelming majority of Americans believe torture is immoral.

The survey, conducted by the bipartisan Constitution Project, followed the December 2014 release of the declassified executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s review of the CIA detention and interrogation program.

“This survey clearly shows that Americans are appalled at torture,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Dianne Feinstein. “I continue to believe our use of torture following 9/11 did nothing to improve our national security, and in fact made us less safe. It’s time we finally learn from previous actions and end government-sponsored use of torture once and for all.”

Feinstein continued: “I intend to introduce legislation soon to outlaw torture and enact a series of reforms to our interrogation procedures. We have a responsibility not to sweep this stain on our history under the carpet but to address it head on to ensure it never happens again.”

Key findings:

• 69 percent believe that “torture is immoral.”
• 76 percent agree that torture should never be used if there are other means to obtain information about terrorists.
• 67 percent support legislation to strengthen U.S. anti-torture laws.

Results of the Constitution Project’s poll are available here.

Senator Feinstein also sent a letter to President Obama laying out a series of legislative and administrative recommendations to prevent the future use of torture.

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