---
title: 'PUBLIC OPINION: Support for Death Penalty Low Among Christians, Particularly Younger Members'
description: 'A new poll by the Barna Group found that only 40% of practicing Christians supported the death penalty, and support was even lower among younger…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-support-for-death-penalty-low-among-christians-particularly-younger-members'
section: news
date: '2014-01-20T14:47:19-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:36:59-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! A new poll by the Barna Group found that only 40% of practicing Christians supported the death penalty, and support was even lower among younger Christians. According to the poll released on January 17, only 23% of practicing Christian "millennials" (i.e., those born between 1980 and 2000) agreed with the statement: "The government should have the option to execute the worst criminals." Without regard to their regular practice of their faith, only 42% of Christian baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and only 32% of millennials agreed with the use of the death penalty. Roxanne Stone, the vice president of publishing at Barna, said, "This parallels a growing trend in the pro-life conversation among Christians to include torture and the death penalty as well as abortion. For many younger Christians, the death penalty is not a political dividing point but a human rights issue."

A [**2011 Gallup poll**](/public-opinion-gallup-poll-reports-lowest-support-death-penalty-nearly-40-years) also found Americans under 30 were more likely to oppose the death penalty than those over 30. The Barna Group poll surveyed 1,000 American adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

(J. Merritt, "[Poll: Younger Christians less supportive of death penalty](https://religionnews.com/2014/01/17/among-us-christians-declining-support-death-penalty/)," Religion News Service, January 18, 2014.) See [**Public Opinion**](/public-opinion-about-death-penalty) and [**Religion**](/article.php%3Fdid%3D2249?did=2249).