A new poll by Quinnipiac has found that more Americans prefer life without parole (48%) than the death penalty (43%) for people convicted of murder. Since Quinnipiac last asked the question in 2013, support for life without parole has risen by five percentage points and dropped for the death penalty by five points. A June 2014 ABC News/Washington Post poll also showed that more Americans preferred life without parole to the death penalty. Quinnipiac found that 58% of Americans say they support the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism, but that number also has dropped five points since 2013. 62% of respondents indicated that they preferred the death penalty for Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as contrasted with just 33% of Boston residents favoring death. By comparison, in 1997, 68% of Americans said that Timothy McVeigh should have received the death penalty after his conviction for the Oklahoma City bombing. (Click image to enlarge.)

(“U.S. Voters Back Supreme Court Ok For Gay Marriage, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Less Support For Death Penalty - Except For Terrorism,” Quinnipiac, June 1, 2015.) See Public Opinion.