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.

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.

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.

Looks like Karl Rove’s comments the other day are not too far off the mark.

The “campaign architect,” as he is commonly called, built a case against President Barack Obama’s order to close Guantanamo, an overseas CIA detention center where terrorists and other “enemy combatants” are held. Obama’s order could enable terrorists to be tried in U.S. courts, to be given undeserved rights afforded American citizens and could cause damaging long-term effects, Rove said.

“One year from now, Gitmo won’t be closed,” Rove said. “If it is, there will be an uproar in the U.S. about where to put these people.”

In one of President Barack Obama’s first acts as President, it looks like a change of Bush Administration policy that does NOT enjoy the overwhelming support of the American people. Well, Obama has left himself a year to decide how to close GITMO.

The closing of Guantanamo Bay = symbolism over substance.