New Poll Finds ​“Strong Majority” of Floridians Prefer Life Without Parole Over Death Penalty

A recent poll by researcher Craig Haney, a Professor of Psychology at the University of California - Santa Cruz, has found that a “strong majority” of Florida respondents prefer life without parole to the death penalty for people convicted of murder, even as many harbor continuing misconceptions about capital punishment that would predispose them to support the death penalty.

In Haney’s survey of more than 500 jury-eligible respondents who were asked to choose between Florida’s statutorily available sentencing options, 57% chose life without parole, while 43% chose the death penalty, as the appropriate punishment for a person convicted of murder. The preference for life held true, Haney said, across racial groups, genders, educational levels, and religious affiliation.

The Florida results are consistent with recent polls in other death penalty states, such as Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Dr. Haney found that Floridians held two common misconceptions about the death penalty that affected their views on the issue: 68.9% mistakenly believed that the death penalty was cheaper than life without parole, and 40.2% mistakenly believed that people sentenced to life without parole would be released from prison. Haney said “support for the death penalty plummeted” to 29% if the life sentencing option was combined with a requirement that these prisoners be required to pay restitution to victims’ families. In addition, when Floridians were given the option of diverting the $1 million per case currently spent on the death penalty to investigate unsolved rapes and murders, only one quarter still supported capital punishment.

Dr. Haney’s research also found that a majority of Floridians oppose the death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness, do not believe the death penalty is a deterrent, and agree that most religious opinion opposes capital punishment. Haney said asking people simply if they support the death penalty is inadequate because “[t]hat question offers a limited and often flawed snapshot of voter attitudes, capturing only abstract support or opposition, but failing to expose strong preferences and deeper pragmatic thinking.”

Dr. Haney argues that it is important in public opinion research to offer respondents the actual policy choices available to them, rather than asking more theoretical questions. “What this research demonstrates is that Floridians’ attitudes on the death penalty are complex. Their preferences change depending on the range of options presented to them,” he said. “The go-to polling question, ‘Do you support the death penalty?’ rarely captures the nuance of how voters are thinking about this issue.”