(Click to enlarge graph) A Field Poll of vot­ers in California found that sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has reached its low­est lev­el since 1965. Only 56% of respon­dents said they favored keep­ing the death penal­ty, down from 69% in 2011. Support for the death penal­ty among Californians peaked in the mid-1980s at 83%. Some of the strongest oppo­si­tion to keep­ing the death penal­ty came from vot­ers under 30, African Americans, and Democrats. Daisy Vieyra, a spokesper­son for the ACLU of Northern California, said sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has declined because, ​“The pub­lic is becom­ing more aware of all the flaws that rid­dle the sys­tem.” In 2012, a ref­er­en­dum to replace California’s death penal­ty with life with­out parole almost passed, com­ing up short in a 52 – 48% vote.

The poll also asked ​“What should California do in light of a fed­er­al judge’s rul­ing that California’s death penal­ty is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al because it takes so long for the state to car­ry out an exe­cu­tion?” Voters were close­ly split, with 52% say­ing the process should be speed­ed up and 40% say­ing the death penal­ty should be replaced with life without parole.

(H. Mintz, ​“Poll: Support of death penal­ty in California slip­ping,” San Jose Mercury News, September 12, 2014). See Public Opinion and California.

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