2021 Gallup Poll: Public Support for Capital Punishment Remains at Half-Century Low

Public sup­port for the death penal­ty again polled at a half-cen­tu­ry low, with oppo­si­tion remain­ing at its high­est lev­el since May 1966, accord­ing to the 2021 Gallup poll on Americans’ atti­tudes about capital punishment.

Fifty-four per­cent of respon­dents to Gallup’s annu­al crime sur­vey con­duct­ed between October 1 and October 19, 2021 told the polling orga­ni­za­tion that they were ​“in favor of the death penal­ty for a per­son con­vict­ed of mur­der.” The fig­ure was the low­est since 50% of respon­dents in March 1972 told Gallup they favored the death penal­ty. Gallup described the results as ​“essen­tial­ly unchanged from read­ings over the past four years.” Support was mar­gin­al­ly low­er than the 55% report­ed in October 2017 and 2020, and two per­cent­age points low­er than in October 2018 and 2019.

Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has declined 26 per­cent­age points from the high of 80% report­ed in Gallup’s September 1994 crime survey. 

Forty-three per­cent of respon­dents told Gallup that they were opposed to the death penal­ty as a pun­ish­ment for mur­der, match­ing the respons­es report­ed in the 2020 death penal­ty poll. Opposition to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was the high­est in 55 years, since 47% of Americans expressed oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the May 1966 Gallup sur­vey. The num­ber was mar­gin­al­ly high­er than the 42% 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. ​“A dif­fer­ent death penal­ty ques­tion Gallup has asked occa­sion­al­ly, though not in the lat­est poll, finds low­er sup­port for the death penal­ty when life impris­on­ment with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole is offered as an explic­it alter­na­tive,” Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones said. ​“That ques­tion also shows declin­ing sup­port for the death penal­ty com­pared with the 1980s, 1990s and ear­ly 2000s,” Jones said. 

In Gallup’s 2019 crime sur­vey, a record-high 60% per­cent of Americans asked to choose whether the death penal­ty or life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole ​“is the bet­ter penal­ty for mur­der” chose the life-sen­tenc­ing option. 36% favored the death penalty.

The Demographics of Death-Penalty Support

The Gallup topline num­bers found sub­stan­tial dif­fer­ences in sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment based on a respondent’s gen­der, race, age, polit­i­cal affil­i­a­tion, and polit­i­cal ide­ol­o­gy. Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment dropped among women, respon­dents of col­or, younger and old­er Americans, Republicans, and Democrats. Support rose among those aged 35 – 54, col­lege grad­u­ates, Independents, and mod­er­ates. It remained essen­tial­ly unchanged among oth­er demographic groups.

In the 2021 poll, 59% of men said they were in favor of the death penal­ty (the same as in 2020), while oppo­si­tion was down one per­cent­age point to 38%. By con­trast, 50% of women favored and 48% opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, com­pared with 52% – 47% in 2020. 

Whites favored the death penal­ty 59% – 38%, com­pared to 60% – 39% in 2020. Non-whites opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment 53% – 45%, up two per­cent­age points in each cat­e­go­ry from the previous year.

Opposition to the death penal­ty rose by 3 per­cent­age points among younger Americans, while sup­port fell by 7 per­cent­age points. 55% of respon­dents to the 2021 crime sur­vey aged 18 – 34, said they opposed the death penal­ty ver­sus 41% who expressed sup­port. In 2020, the num­bers were 52% – 48%. By con­trast, sup­port for the death penal­ty rose among respon­dents aged 35 – 54 from 53% – 44% in the 2020 sur­vey to 58% – 41% in 2021. Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment declined slight­ly among Americans 55 and old­er from 63% – 35% in 2020 to 61% – 36% in 2021.

Level of edu­ca­tion also affect­ed views on the death penal­ty, although not as much as in past years. Support for the death penal­ty increased by 5 per­cent­age points and oppo­si­tion fell by 6 per­cent­age points among col­lege grad­u­ates between the 2020 and 2021 crime sur­veys. In the 2020 crime sur­vey, col­lege grad­u­ates opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment 53%­ – 45%; in 2021, they favored it 50% – 47%. Those with some col­lege edu­ca­tion and those with a high school edu­ca­tion or less both sup­port­ed the death penal­ty 57% – 41%. The num­bers marked a slight decline in sup­port, from 59% – 40%, among those with some col­lege edu­ca­tion, but declined sig­nif­i­cant­ly among respon­dents with a high school edu­ca­tion or less, who in 2020 sup­port­ed the death penal­ty 62% – 37%.

The great­est dif­fer­ences in Americans’ views con­tin­ued to be along par­ti­san and ide­o­log­i­cal lines, though sup­port fell among both left and right while ris­ing in the cen­ter. Support among those self-iden­ti­fy­ing remained strong, with 77% of Republicans say­ing they favored the death penal­ty, while 22% expressed oppo­si­tion. However, the num­bers rep­re­sent­ed a 5 per­cent­age point shift from 2020 lev­els, when Republican over­whelm­ing­ly favored the death penal­ty by 82% – 17%. Democrats under­went a com­pa­ra­ble shift away from the death penal­ty, with 66% say­ing they opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment ver­sus 34% in sup­port. In 2020, Democrats opposed the death penal­ty by 58% – 39%. At the same time, those iden­ti­fy­ing as Independents moved in the oth­er direc­tion. While Independents nar­row­ly opposed the death penal­ty, 50% – 49% in 2020, they favored it by 55% – 41% in 2021. 

Those iden­ti­fy­ing them­selves as con­ser­v­a­tives were less sup­port­ive of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment than those iden­ti­fy­ing as Republicans, with 70% say­ing they were in favor of the death penal­ty ver­sus 27% say­ing they were opposed. That rep­re­sent­ed small declines both in sup­port and in oppo­si­tion from their views in 2020 (72% – 28%). Those describ­ing them­selves as lib­er­al opposed the death penal­ty, 69% – 28%, up from 67%– 32% in 2020. By con­trast, sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment increased among those iden­ti­fy­ing them­selves as mod­er­ate by two per­cent­age points, 57% – 41%, com­pared to 55%-42% in 2020.