PEW POLL: Public Support for the Death Penalty Drops Below 50% for First Time in 45 Years

Public sup­port for the death penal­ty fell by 7 per­cent­age points in the last year, with few­er than half of Americans (49%) now say­ing they sup­port the death penal­ty, accord­ing to a nation­al Pew Research Center poll released on September 29. The poll marks the first time in 45 years that sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment polled below 50%, when a Gallup poll in released in November 1971 also report­ed that 49% of Americans sup­port­ed the death penal­ty. Opposition to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment reached a record high since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1972 deci­sion in Furman v. Georgia strik­ing down exist­ing death penal­ty statutes. 42% of respon­dents told Pew that they oppose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the most since a May 1966 Gallup poll report­ed 47% of Americans against the death penal­ty. The poll results reflect the con­tin­u­a­tion — and per­haps accel­er­a­tion — of a 20-year trend of decreas­ing sup­port for, and increas­ing oppo­si­tion to, cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Support for the death penal­ty declined across every demo­graph­ic group in the past year, with the largest decline com­ing among Independents (13 per­cent­age points). Majorities of Blacks (63%), Hispanics (50%), 18 – 29 year-olds (51%), col­lege grad­u­ates (51%), Democrats (58%), and peo­ple with no reli­gious affil­i­a­tion (50%) now oppose the death penal­ty and — while com­pris­ing less than a major­i­ty — more women, Independents, and Catholics say they oppose the death penal­ty than sup­port it. While 72% of Republicans say they favor cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, sup­port for the death penal­ty among Republicans dropped 5 points in the past year. Since 2011, sup­port for the death penal­ty has declined among every demo­graph­ic group, with over­all sup­port falling by 13 points. The polls appear to be reflect­ing gen­er­a­tional changes as well. 59% of those aged 18 – 29 said they sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in 2011. In 2015, sup­port among the young had fall­en to 51%, and sup­port plum­met­ed anoth­er 9 per­cent­age points to 42% this year. (Click image to enlarge.)

(B. Oliphant, ​“Support for death penal­ty low­est in more than four decades,” Pew Research Center, September 29, 2016) See Public Opinion.