Poll finds broad support for Obama’s counterterrorism policies

President Obama’s reelection campaign is raising money and reaching out to voters and volunteers.

The sharpest edges of President Obama’s counterterrorism policy, including the use of drone aircraft to kill suspected terrorists abroad and keeping open the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have broad public support, including from the left wing of the Democratic Party. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to close the brig at Guantanamo Bay and to change national security policies he criticized as inconsistent with U.S. law and values, has little to fear politically for failing to live up to all of those promises.

The findings also highlight the dilemma of Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and other GOP rivals, who have portrayed Obama as weak abroad and politically motivated in moving to end America’s two long wars. Attacking Obama’s national security policies, the poll suggests, may do more harm than good to Republican presidential candidates at a time when many Americans favor a national security approach that relies more on technology than troops. By better than 2 to 1 Americans say the president’s handling of terrorism is a major reason to support rather than oppose his bid for reelection.

The survey shows that 70 percent of respondents approve of Obama’s decision to keep open the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He pledged during his first week in office to close the prison within a year. But he has not done so.
Even the party base appears willing to forgive that failure. The poll shows that 53 percent of self-identified liberal Democrats — and 67 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats — support keeping Guantanamo Bay open, even though it emerged as a symbol of the post-Sept. 11 national security policies of George W. Bush, which many liberals bitterly opposed. Obama has also relied on armed drones far more than Bush did, and he has expanded their use beyond America’s defined war zones. The Post-ABC News poll found that 83 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s drone policy, which administration officials refuse to discuss, citing security concerns.

It's okay for Obama to keep it open but most of these same types hated Bush keeping it open. Too much idol worshiping going on with this Obama guy.