According to the lat­est Gallup Poll in October 2003, sup­port for the death penal­ty has dropped to 64%, its low­est lev­el since 1978. The 32% of Americans opposed to the death penal­ty rep­re­sent­ed the most oppo­si­tion since 1972. (2003 poll: CNN​.com, November 25, 2003; Fox News, November 26, 2003) This find­ing is par­tic­u­lar­ly note­wor­thy giv­en the exten­sive media cov­er­age lead­ing to the tri­als of John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in Virginia. Two oth­er polls this year also record­ed a drop in death penal­ty sup­port to 64%: ABC News poll and Pew Research Center Poll. See Public Opinion.

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