Gallup Poll: Support for Death Penalty Declines 2%, Opposition Reaches Highest Level in 43 Years

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.