According to new polling analy­sis from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, sup­port for the death penal­ty among the gen­er­al pub­lic has dropped to 62% (August 2007), down from a high of 80% sup­port in the mid-1990s. Among black respon­dents, 51% opposed the death penal­ty and only 40% were in favor. Hispanics were about even­ly split with 48% in favor of the death penal­ty and 47% opposed. Eighty-two (82%) per­cent of con­ser­v­a­tive Republicans sup­port the death penal­ty, but only 41% of lib­er­al Democrats. Among reli­gious groups, white evan­gel­i­cal Protestants had the high­est sup­port – 74%.

(See Pew Forum, December 19, 2007). See Public Opinion. In polls that ask respon­dents to com­pare the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole, sup­port for the death penal­ty is con­sid­er­ably low­er, and often below sup­port for full life sentences.

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