POLL: 58% OF CANADIANS FAVOR THE DEATH PENALTY

July 10, 2016: Canadians are more forward-thinking than Americans on a vast range of social issues, but not on death penalty.
Abortion, pornography, and sex-same relationships are significantly more accepted in Canada than the United States, according to results published Saturday by Abacus Data. But our feelings on the death penalty are about the same. The poll suggests a majority of respondents in both countries support the death penalty, with 58 % of Canadians and 59 % of Americans labeling the practice "morally right." But when it comes to abortion, assisted dying and same-sex relationships, attitudes between Canada and the U.S. are more than 20 % points apart.
The numbers "confirm a more progressive, secular and libertarian predisposition in Canada," Abacus Data chairman Bruce Anderson said in a release, even though the trend didn't apply to views on capital punishment. Abacus Data asked 1,500 Canadians whether they thought things like abortion, same-sex relationships, and capital punishment are morally acceptable. Results were then compared to American data sets released by Gallup.
The online survey, conducted between June 14 to 16, has a margin of error of 2.6 % points, 19 times out of 20. The death penalty was officially abolished in Canada in 1976 by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau. No one had been executed for 14 years in Canada when the death penalty was scrapped. The last Canadian inmate was hanged in 1962. (Source: Huffington Post Canada, 10/07/2016)