Public Opinion

Overview

In a democ­ra­cy, the sub­stance of the laws is deter­mined by the peo­ple. Even the con­sti­tu­tion can be changed through the demo­c­ra­t­ic process. Public sen­ti­ment can be mea­sured through polling, but it is also reflect­ed in elec­tions and ref­er­en­da, both on a local and national level.

There is a long his­to­ry of polls of ask­ing the pub­lic whether they favor or oppose the death penal­ty for the crime of mur­der. The resul­tant respons­es might reflect the public’s philo­soph­i­cal or moral stance on the issue, but they do not mea­sure opin­ion about the death penal­ty as it is actu­al­ly prac­ticed, which requires such infor­ma­tion as the avail­abil­i­ty of alter­na­tive sen­tences, the risks of mis­take and bias, and the costs asso­ci­at­ed with the practice.

At Issue

The death penal­ty is some­times jus­ti­fied because the major­i­ty of poll respon­dents sup­ports it in the abstract. The Supreme Court, in attempt­ing to deter­mine whether a pun­ish­ment is cru­el and unusu­al, asks whether the pun­ish­ment com­ports with society’s ​“evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy.” The Court has been reluc­tant to rely on opin­ion polls to mea­sure these stan­dards because poll results can vary wide­ly depend­ing on the polling firm and the spe­cif­ic word­ing of the ques­tions asked. Instead, the Court has looked to the actions of state leg­is­la­tures and the deci­sions of juries, pros­e­cu­tors and gov­er­nors, as reflect­ing pub­lic will. The myr­i­ad of dis­turb­ing facts about the death penal­ty has led to a sharp decline in its use and even to a low­er­ing of sup­port in the abstract poll ques­tion. Ultimately, the future of the death penal­ty will depend on whether it is retain­ing public support.

What DPI Offers

DPI has high­light­ed the results of many polls on the death penal­ty over many years, both on a nation­al and state lev­el. Some of these polls go into greater depth than those just ask­ing the abstract ques­tion of sup­port or oppo­si­tion. DPI has also com­mis­sioned its own polls, includ­ing sur­veys of those in law enforce­ment, and has issued reports on the results.