U.S. voters are closely divided over whether the government should close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

Forty-four percent (44%) agree with President Obama’s decision to close the camp within the next year, while 42% disagree in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure which is the best course to follow.

In late November of last year, just 32% of voters said the Guantanamo prison camp should be closed. Forty-nine percent (49%) opposed closing the prison despite growing complaints by human rights groups and many foreign countries.

Democrats have changed their minds far more than Republicans. In November, 47% of Democrats favored closing the Guantanamo prison, while 79% of Republicans disagreed. Now 71% of Democrats agree with Obama’s decision to close it, with 68% of GOP voters opposed. The views of unaffiliated voters’ are little changed.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of voters, however, still say safety is more important to them than fairness in determining where the terrorist suspects should be imprisoned. Just 19% put more emphasis on fairness, while 13% are not sure which is more important. These numbers are virtually unchanged from the findings in November.

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While the Obama administration tries to figure out to deal with the more than 200 inmates in the prison camp, a majority of voters also continue to believe they should not have the same legal status as prisoners here at home.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) say the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo should not be given all the rights of U.S. citizens. Only 16% disagree, and 15% are not sure.

Just 26% say the suspected terrorists should be tried in U.S. courts. Fifty-nine percent (59%) support the Bush Administration position that they should be tried by military tribunals. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided.

Again, the responses to both these questions are almost identical to those in a survey last July.

Forty-two percent (42%) of voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Obama is performing as president in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index. Nineteen percent (19%) Strongly Disapprove. These numbers reflect a continuing slight drop-off from his record high numbers for the past several weeks.

Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans say safety is more important than fairness in determining where terrorist suspects should be imprisoned, as do 55% of Democrats and 73% of unaffiliated voters. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Democrats think fairness should be the priority, a view shared by just 16% of unaffiliateds and 11% of Republicans.

Similarly, Democrats are less opposed to treating suspected terrorists like U.S. citizens than are Republicans and unaffiliated voters. While 84% of GOP voters and 65% of unaffiliateds oppose giving suspected terrorists all the rights of U.S. citizens while they are being tried, just 59% of Democrats agree.

While two-thirds of Republicans (67%) and unaffiliated voters (66%) say terrorist suspects should be tried by military tribunals, Democrats are more evenly divided. Forty-six percent (46%) of Democrats think a military tribunal is fine while 35% say they should be tried in U.S. courts.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters say they have followed news stories about Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo camp Very Closely. Only four percent (4%) say they have not followed the news at all.

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