25 November 2020 :
Gallup Poll: Public Support for the Death Penalty Lowest in a Half-Century.
Public support for the death penalty is at its lowest level in a half-century, with opposition higher than any time since 1966, according to the 2020 annual Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes about capital punishment.
Fifty-five percent of respondents to a national survey conducted between September 30 and October 15, 2020 told Gallup that they were “in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder,” down one percentage point from the levels reported in 2018 and 2019. The figure tied with 2017 for the lowest support for capital punishment since 50% of Americans told Gallup in March 1972 that they were in favor of the death penalty, just months before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down existing death penalty statutes in Furman v. Georgia.
Forty-three percent of respondents told Gallup that they were opposed to the death penalty as a punishment for murder, the most since 47% of Americans expressed opposition to capital punishment in the May 1966 Gallup survey. The number was one percentage point higher than the level of opposition reported in 2019 and two percentage points higher than in 2017 and 2018.
The results followed the continuing pattern of declining death-penalty support found in the organization’s polling. In May 2020, a record-low 54% of Americans said they believed the death penalty is “morally acceptable,” and in October 2018, 49% of Americans — also a new low — said they believed the death penalty was “applied fairly.” The 2019 national survey found that a record 60% of Americans favored life imprisonment over the death penalty, which Gallup called “a dramatic shift from prior years.”
Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones said the pollster’s questions on death penalty trends reflect that “many Americans are … conflicted on the death penalty. … About one in five Americans express theoretical support for use of the death penalty but believe life imprisonment is a better way to punish convicted murderers,” Jones said.
The Demographics of Death-Penalty Support.
Gallup found substantial differences in support for capital punishment based on gender, race, age, political affiliation, and political ideology. 59% of men said they were in favor of the death penalty, while 39% said they opposed. By contrast, 52% of women favored and 47% opposed capital punishment. Whites favored the death penalty 60%-39%, while non-whites opposed capital punishment 51% to 47%. Younger Americans aged 18-34 opposed the death penalty 52% to 48%, while those aged 35-54 supported it 53%-44%, and those 55 and older supported it 63%-35%.
Level of education also affected views on the death penalty, with college graduates opposing the death penalty 53%-45%, those with some college education supporting it 59%-40%, and those with a high school education or less supporting the death penalty 62% to 37%.
The greatest differences in Americans’ views were reflected in party identification and political ideology. Those currently identifying as Republican overwhelmingly favored the death penalty, 82% to 17%. On the other hand, Democrats opposed the death penalty 58%-39%, while Independents narrowly opposed it, 50%-49%. By 10 percentage points, those identifying as conservatives were less supportive of capital punishment than those identifying as Republicans, with 72% saying they were in favor of the death penalty and 28% saying they were opposed. Those describing themselves as liberal opposed the death penalty, 67% to 32%, while those self-identifying as moderate favored the death penalty, 55%-42%.
Results are based on telephone interviews conducted September 30-October 15, 2020 with a random sample of – 1,035—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/325568/support-death-penalty-holds-above-majority-level.aspx
