A recent Gallup Poll mea­sur­ing pub­lic opin­ion regard­ing the death penal­ty revealed a decline in sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The poll found that 66% of Americans sup­port the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of mur­der, down 5% from an ear­li­er 2004 poll and sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er than the high of 80% in 1994. In an analy­sis of Gallup polls on this ques­tion from 2001 to 2004, women were more like­ly to oppose the death penal­ty than men. Among African-American respon­dents, 49% opposed the death penal­ty and 44% were in favor of it. Catholics were less sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty than Protestants, and Catholics who attend­ed church reg­u­lar­ly were even less like­ly to sup­port it than Catholics who sel­dom attend­ed church. (Gallup Poll Analysis, November 16, 2004). See Public Opinion.

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