Support for the death penalty in the United States dropped by two percentage points over the last year and opposition rose to its highest levels since before the Supreme Court declared existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional in 1972, according to the 2015 annual Gallup Poll on the death penalty. Gallup reports that 61% of Americans say they favor the death penalty, down from 63% last year and near the 40-year low of 60% support recorded in 2013. Support was 19 points below the 80% who told Gallup in 1994 that they supported capital punishment. 37% said they opposed the death penalty, the most in 43 years and 21 points above levels reported in the mid-1990s. Death penalty support was lower and opposition higher among racial minorities than among whites. A majority of African Americans (55%) oppose the death penalty, while 68% of whites say they support it. The poll results are consistent with other signs of declining support for the death penalty: seven states have abolished the death penalty since 2007, and death sentences are at their lowest level since capital punishment was reinstated. Even with historic lows in death sentencing, the poll reports the highest percentage of Americans to say the death penalty is imposed too often (27%) since Gallup first posed that question in 2001. The 40% who said the death penalty is not imposed enough was tied for the lowest percentage to say so since May of 2001. (Click image to enlarge.)
(A. Dugan, “Solid Majority Continue to Support Death Penalty,” Gallup, October 15, 2015.) See Public Opinion.
Public Opinion
Mar 11, 2024
