WASHINGTON: Just over half of Americans say torture is at least sometimes justified to thwart terrorist attacks and are evenly divided over whether to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, according to a poll that underscores the challenges President Barack Obama faces in selling his terror-fighting policies.

Even so, the latest Associated Press-GfK survey also shows that Obama enjoys broad confidence that he can effectively handle terrorism in an era when many people say they still fear becoming a victim of it and when a swath of the public shares the views of Obama's Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

At the same time, Obama has not lost support. He has a strong 64 percent job-approval rating and nearly half of Americans still think the country is headed in the right direction. That's despite bipartisan rebukes of the new president's ordered closure of the prison at the US Navy base in Cuba and former Vice President Dick Cheney's sustained criticism of Obama's approach to terrorism.