Nearly half of U.S. voters (49%) say the United States should not close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, but the identical number (49%) also say Barack Obama is Very likely to close it in the first year of his presidency.

Only 32% of voters say the Guantanamo prison camp should be closed, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. One-out-of-five (19%) are undecided.

The new findings mark a drop in support for the special prison camp for terrorists where the United States detains about 250 inmates. In a survey in late July, 59% said Guantanamo should be kept open, while 26% said it should be closed.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of male voters now are opposed to closing the prison camp, as are a plurality of women voters (45%). Thirty-six percent (36%) of men and 28% of women believe the prison should be closed.

Forty-seven percent (47%) of Democrats say the Guantanamo prison should be closed, but 79% of Republicans disagree. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Democrats believe the prison should remain open, but nearly as many (26%) are undecided. Among undecided voters, 47% say the camp should stay open while 33% want it closed.

Only two percent (2%) now say it is not at all likely that Obama will close the prison in his first year in office.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Republicans and 54% of unaffiliated voters say Obama is Very likely to close the prison in his first year as president, but just 39% of Democrats agree.

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Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters say the use of torture to gain information from suspected terrorists diminishes America’s moral stature in the world, but 65% also say the United States treats prisoners of war better than most other nations. Thirty-six percent (36%) do not believe the use of torture on terrorism suspects diminishes this country’s moral image.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters believe America treats POWs better than most other nations, but only 51% of Democrats say the same. Eighteen percent (18%) of Democratic voters and 15% of unaffiliateds say the United States does not treat prisoners of war better, compared to just three percent (3%) of GOP voters. Nearly one-third of Democrats (32%) aren’t sure.

The Bush administration says it does not torture terrorist suspects at Guantanamo, although human rights advocates strongly disagree.

While Russia was the first country to challenge President-elect Obama with a threat to deploy new missiles facing Europe, most U.S. voters expect terrorists or Iran to provide the new president’s first international test in office.

President Bush’s decision to try suspected terrorists by military commissions at Guantanamo instead of in regular U.S. courts has triggered substantial protest from civil liberties groups and other countries.

Just 52% of voters now think the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror.

In a November 16 interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo prison camp but did not explain whether the prisoners will be put into the U.S. court system or released. Some of the prisoners are being indefinitely detained, but this would be quickly challenged if they were shifted into the civilian system.

"There are 20 to 30 people in Guantanamo that present serious, serious problems," retired Admiral Donald J. Guter, formerly the Navy's top uniformed lawyer and an advisor to the Obama campaign, told the Los Angeles Times. "If you can't take them to a court and get legitimate convictions, what do you do with them?”

In the July survey, 71% said the suspects should not be given the rights U.S. citizens have in court.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters now say that national security is more important to them than fairness in determining where terrorist suspects should be imprisoned and tried. Twenty-five percent (25%) say fairness is more important to them, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

While 89% of Republicans and 68% of unaffiliated voters put the emphasis on national security, Democrats are more closely divided. Forty-nine percent (49%) of Democratic voters say national security is more important than fairness, but 40% say fairness is their top concern.

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