A new Rasmussen poll found that 57% of American adults sup­port the death penal­ty, down from 63% in the orga­ni­za­tion’s polls dat­ing from 2009. The poll found 26% of respon­dents opposed the death penal­ty, with 17% unde­cid­ed. Respondents were also asked whether they favored the death penal­ty for James Holmes if he is con­vict­ed of the mass shoot­ing at a movie the­ater in Aurora, Colorado. Just 55% said they believed Holmes should be sen­tenced to death, com­pared to 66% who held that view imme­di­ate­ly after the shoot­ing in 2012. Twenty per­cent were unde­cid­ed. Rasmussen found that Americans were less sup­port­ive of exe­cut­ing a defen­dant who is men­tal­ly ill, an issue in Holmes’s case. Respondents also had con­cerns about wrong­ful con­vic­tions, and were split on whether the death penal­ty deterred crime.

(“Americans Are Still Pro-Death Penalty,” Rasmussen Reports, February 6, 2015; ​“Most Still Favor Death Sentence for Colorado Theater Shooter,” Rasmussen Reports, February 5, 2015). See Public Opinion and Mental Illness.

Citation Guide