“Americans’ sup­port for the death penal­ty has dipped to a lev­el not seen in 45 years,” accord­ing to the results of the 2017 Gallup poll released on October 26. Gallup report­ed that, in a nation­wide sur­vey of 1,028 adults polled October 5 – 11, 2017, 55% of Americans said they are ​“in favor of the death penal­ty for a per­son con­vict­ed of mur­der,” down from a report­ed 60% in October 2016. The five per­cent­age-point decline rep­re­sent­ed an 8% decrease in the lev­el of sup­port for the death penal­ty nation­wide and, Gallup said, ​“continue[s] a trend toward dimin­ished death penal­ty sup­port” in the United States. This year’s results reflect­ed the low­est lev­el of sup­port for the death penal­ty in the U.S. since March 1972 — just before the June 1972 U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion in Furman v. Georgia declared the nation’s death-penal­ty laws uncon­sti­tu­tion­al — and was 25 per­cent­age points below the peak of 80% of Americans who said in September 1994 that they sup­port­ed in the death penal­ty. In September 2016, a Pew Research Center poll also mea­sured sup­port for the death penal­ty at the low­est lev­el in 45 years, with 49% of Americans say­ing they sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for per­sons con­vict­ed of mur­der. The 2017 Gallup results simul­ta­ne­ous­ly reflect a con­tin­u­ing par­ty-based diver­gence in views on the death penal­ty and a steep drop among Republicans in sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. While 72% of Republicans say they favor the death penal­ty, as com­pared to 58% of Independents and 39% of Democrats, death-penal­ty sup­port among Republicans fell by ten per­cent­age points, from 82% just before the pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in October 2016. Death-penal­ty sup­port has plum­met­ed 26 per­cent­age points among Democrats — a 40% decline — since 2002, when 65% told Gallup they favored cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Long-term death-penal­ty sup­port has also declined among respon­dents iden­ti­fy­ing them­selves as Independents, with respect to whom it has fall­en ten per­cent­age points since 2000, when Gallup mea­sured it at 68%. Although sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment over­all has declined sig­nif­i­cant­ly this cen­tu­ry, 51% of Americans told Gallup that they believe that the death penal­ty is applied fair­ly — the same per­cent­age as in 2000. A sol­id core of 39% believe the death penal­ty is not imposed enough — down 14 per­cent­age points from May 2005, but rough­ly equal to the 38% who gave that response when Gallup asked that ques­tion in May 2001. The Gallup poll also report­ed oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty at 41%. The last time Gallup report­ed high­er oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty was 51 years ago, in May 1966, when 47% of respon­dents said they opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. (Click here for enlarged graph.)

(J. Jones, ​“U.S. Death Penalty Support Lowest Since 1972,” Gallup News Service, October 26, 2017; L. Saad, ​“Gallup Poll Social Series: Crime, Death Penalty Topline,” Gallup News Service, October 26, 2017.) See Public Opinion.

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