POLL: For the First Time, More Americans Believe the Death Penalty Is Applied Unfairly in the United States

The Gallup Crime Survey has asked about the fairness of death penalty application in the United States since 2000. For the first time, the October 2023 survey reports that more Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly (50%) than fairly (47%). Between 2000 and 2015, 51%-61% of Americans said they thought capital punishment was applied fairly in the U.S., but this number has been dropping since 2016. This year’s number of 47% represents a historic low in the history of Gallup’s polling.

Support for capital punishment remains at a five-decade low in the United States. Gallup found that 53% of Americans favor the death penalty, which is not statistically significant from the 54% and 55% support recorded over the last three years. When Gallup first asked this question in 1936, 59% of Americans supported the use of the death penalty for convicted murderers. A majority of Americans have generally supported the use of the death penalty since then, except for the record-low 42% recorded in 1966 and several surveys between 1957 and 1972. Public support of the death penalty peaked in 1994, with 80% of Americans in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder. The number of executions in the United States similarly peaked in the late 1990s, with 98 executions in 1999.

Gallup also asked respondents whether they believe the death penalty is imposed too often, about the right amount, or not enough. 39% of respondents think that capital punishment is not used often enough, while 28% of respondents believe it is both imposed too often or about the right amount. There are also partisan differences.  62% of Republicans think that the death penalty is not imposed often enough, while 25% say it is imposed about the right amount. 52% of Democrats think that the death penalty is imposed too often, while 24% think it is used about the right amount. There is greater divide among Independents, as 37% think that it is not used enough, 32% think it is used about the right amount, and 26% think it is used too often.