---
title: 'New Poll Finds Increase in Opposition to Death Penalty'
description: 'A recent Harris Interactive poll of over 1,000 American adults found that the number of people who oppose the death penalty has increased since 2003.'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-poll-finds-increase-in-opposition-to-death-penalty'
section: news
date: '2008-03-20T19:14:13-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:22:13-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

A recent **Harris Interactive** poll of over 1,000 American adults found that the number of people who oppose the death penalty has increased since 2003. Thirty-percent (30%) of those sampled oppose the death penalty, an increase of 8 percentage points in the past 5 years. The percentage of respondents who "believe in capital punishment" has dropped significantly since 1997, when 75% supported the death penalty. In 2008, that number had declined to 63%, the lowest number in recent years.

The poll also found that 52% of Americans do not believe that the death penalty deters others from committing murder. Likewise, 95% of those polled stated that they believe that sometimes innocent people are convicted of murder. Among this group, 58% said they would then oppose the death penalty based upon the knowledge that some innocent people are convicted of murder. This represents a strong increase since the year 2000, when only 36% said that cases of innocence would lead them to oppose the death penalty.

(“[Over Three in Five Americans Believe in Death Penalty](http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/?epi_menuItemID=8529ea2ad8631dcd3bb97904c6908a0c&epi_menuID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&epi_baseMenuID=384979e8cc48c441ef0130f5c6908a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20080318005337),” Harris Interactive, BusinessWire, March 18, 2008). See [Public Opinion](/public-opinion-about-death-penalty?did=209&scid=23) and [Deterrence](/facts-about-deterrence-and-death-penalty?scid=12&did=167).