Entries tagged with “Gallup”
Jun 16, 2026
New Poll Shows More Americans View the Death Penalty as Morally Unacceptable
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally unacceptable has risen to 39%, while the percentage who find it acceptable has fallen to a record low, according to a new poll released by Gallup on June 9, 2026. A slight majority (52%) of respondents to Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll said that they still consider the death penalty morally acceptable, down from the previous record-low of 54% in the organization’s 2020 survey. Support has fallen drastically in the last two…
Nov 05, 2025
Facts About the Death Penalty: New Public Opinion Poll Confirms Growing Disapproval of Death Penalty
During election cycles, it is not uncommon to see some politicians and elected officials talking more about the death penalty than usual – often in an attempt to bolster their “tough on crime” credentials. This phenomenon is based on the outdated assumption that use of capital punishment is a popular way of addressing violent crime. The data show otherwise. An October 2025 Gallup poll confirms a thirty-year trend: every year since 1994, the death penalty has become less popular among…
Nov 18, 2024
NEW POLL: Overall Support for the Death Penalty Remains at Five-Decade Low as Opposition to the Death Penalty Grows Among Younger Generations
According to October 2024 polling produced by Gallup, support for capital punishment remains at a five-decade low in the United States. Overall, Gallup found 53% of Americans in favor of the death penalty, but that number masks considerable differences between older and younger Americans. More than half of young adults aged 18 to 43 now oppose the death penalty. Among those expressing a political affiliation, support for the death penalty fell markedly in all groups and in all generations, with…
Research
Nov 06, 2023
POLL: For the First Time, More Americans Believe the Death Penalty Is Applied Unfairly in the United States
The Gallup Crime Survey has asked about the fairness of death penalty application in the United States since 2000. For the first time, the October 2023 survey reports that more Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly (50%) than fairly (47%). Between 2000 and 2015, 51%-61% of Americans said they thought capital punishment was applied fairly in the U.S., but this number has been dropping since 2016. This year’s number of 47% represents a historic low in the history of Gallup’s…
Research
Dec 06, 2022
Midterm Elections: Moratorium Supporters, Reform Prosecutors Post Gains Despite Massive Campaign Efforts to Tie Reformers to Surge in Violent Crime
In a year that featured massive campaign advertising attempting to portray legal reformers as responsible for increases in violent crime, candidates committed to criminal legal reform or who promised to continue statewide moratoria on executions posted key election wins in the 2022 midterm elections. Defying a pre-election narrative forecasting a backlash against progressive prosecutors and conventional wisdom that fear of crime drives political outcomes, reform prosecutors were re-elected to…
Research
Nov 15, 2022
Polls: Death Penalty Support Remains Near 50-Year Low Despite Record-High Perception that Crime Has Increased
Two national polls have found that support for capital punishment in the United States remains near half-century lows despite record-high perception that local crime has increased. The 2022 Crime Survey by Gallup, administered between October 3 – 20, 2022 against the backdrop of the Parkland school shooting trial, reported support for capital punishment held steady at 55%, one percentage point above the 50-year low of 54% in 2021. Gallup has measured support for capital punishment at between…
Research
Jun 16, 2022
Percentage of Americans Who View the Death Penalty as Morally Acceptable Remains Near Record Low
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally acceptable remains near a record low, according to a new poll released by the Gallup organization on June 9, 2022. 55% of respondents to Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs Survey told Gallup that they consider the death penalty morally acceptable, fractionally above the record low of 54% in the organization’s 2020 survey. The number matches the 55% level of acceptability reported in the 2021 Values and Beliefs survey. The poll…
Research
Nov 19, 2021
2021 Gallup Poll: Public Support for Capital Punishment Remains at Half-Century Low
Public support for the death penalty again polled at a half-century low, with opposition remaining at its highest level since May 1966, according to the 2021 Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes about capital punishment. Fifty-four percent of respondents to Gallup’s annual crime survey conducted between October 1 and October 19, 2021 told the polling organization that they were “in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder.” The figure was the lowest since 50% of respondents…
Issues
Nov 24, 2020
Gallup Poll: Public Support for the Death Penalty Lowest in a Half-Century
Public support for the death penalty is at its lowest level in a half-century, with opposition higher than any time since 1966, according to the 2020 annual Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes about capital punishment. Fifty-five percent of respondents to a national survey conducted between September 30 and October 15, 2020 told Gallup that they were “in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder,” down one percentage point from the levels reported in 2018 and 2019. The figure…
Research
Jun 24, 2020
Gallup Poll: Record-Low Percentage of Americans Now Find Death Penalty Morally Acceptable
The percentage of Americans who consider the death penalty to be morally acceptable has fallen to a record-low, a new national poll by the Gallup organization has found. According to the 2020 Gallup Values and Beliefs poll, released on June 23, 2020, 54% of U.S. adults now say the death penalty is morally acceptable. (Click here to see history of poll results.) That number represents a six-percentage-point decline over the course of the last year and is the lowest in the 20-year history of the…
Issues
Nov 25, 2019
Gallup Poll — For First Time, Majority of Americans Prefer Life Sentence To Capital Punishment
For the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1985, a majority of Americans now say life imprisonment is a better approach for punishing murder than is the death penalty. According to the 2019 Gallup death-penalty poll (click here to enlarge graphic), 60% percent of Americans asked to choose whether the death penalty or life without possibility of parole “is the better penalty for murder” chose the life-sentencing option. 36% favored the death penalty. The response reflects a…
Research
Murder Rates
,Oct 22, 2018
Gallup Poll — Fewer than Half of Americans, a New Low, Believe Death Penalty is Applied Fairly
Fewer than half of Americans now believe the death penalty is fairly applied in the United States, according to the 2018 annual Gallup crime poll of U.S. adults, conducted October 1 – 10. The 49% of Americans who said they believed the death penalty was “applied fairly” was the lowest Gallup has ever recorded since it first included the question in its crime poll in 2000. The percentage of U.S. adults who said they believe the death penalty is unfairly applied rose to 45%, the highest since…
Research
Oct 26, 2017
GALLUP POLL: Support for Death Penalty in U.S. Falls to a 45-Year Low
“Americans’ support for the death penalty has dipped to a level not seen in 45 years,” according to the results of the 2017 Gallup poll released on October 26. Gallup reported that, in a nationwide survey of 1,028 adults polled October 5 – 11, 2017, 55% of Americans said they are “in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder,” down from a reported 60% in October 2016. The five percentage-point decline represented an 8% decrease in the level of support for the death penalty…
Research
Oct 26, 2016
Gallup Poll: Support for Death Penalty at Lowest Level Since 1972
Support for the death penalty in the United States is at its lowest level since November 1972, according to a Gallup poll released October 25. Gallup reported that 60% of respondents said they support capital punishment — off one percentage point from last year — while opposition remained at 37%, matching its highest level since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972. Support has dropped 9 points since 2007 and 20 points since its peak in 1994. The results reflect the same…
Research
Oct 16, 2015
Gallup Poll: Support for Death Penalty Declines 2%, Opposition Reaches Highest Level in 43 Years
Support for the death penalty in the United States dropped by two percentage points over the last year and opposition rose to its highest levels since before the Supreme Court declared existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional in 1972, according to the 2015 annual Gallup Poll on the death penalty. Gallup reports that 61% of Americans say they favor the death penalty, down from 63% last year and near the 40-year low of 60% support recorded in 2013. Support was 19 points below the 80% who…
Research
Oct 23, 2014
Death Penalty Support Remains Near 40-Year Low
In a Gallup poll released on October 23, support for the death penalty was 63%, remaining within the margin of error of a 40-year low of 60% last year. These results represent a dramatic shift in Americans’ views on the death penalty since the 1990’s, when support for the death penalty peaked at 80%. Opposition to the death penalty has grown significantly among Democrats, more than doubling over the last 20 years, from 22% in 1994 to 46% today. When offered the alternative punishment of life…
Issues
Oct 31, 2013
PUBLIC OPINION: Support for Death Penalty At Its Lowest in 40 Years
A recent Gallup poll found the lowest level of support for the death penalty in America since 1972. Gallup’s October poll measured Americans’ abstract support at 60%, a 20-percentage point decline from 1994, when 80% of respondents were in favor of the death penalty for those convicted of murder. Support for the death penalty differed sharply among those who identified themselves with a political party: 81% of Republicans supported the death penalty, while only 47% of Democrats and 60% of…
Research
Jan 14, 2013
PUBLIC OPINION: 2012 Gallup Poll Shows Support for Death Penalty Remains Near 40-Year Low
A recent Gallup Poll measured Americans’ abstract support for the death penalty at 63%, the second-lowest level of support for capital punishment since 1978, and a significant decline from 1994, when 80% of respondents were in favor of the death penalty. Gallup noted the results of the poll may have been affected by the fact that it was conducted a few days after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. In 2011 Gallup found 61% in support of the death penalty, the lowest level in 40 years. When…
Research
Religion
,May 31, 2012
PUBLIC OPINION: Public Finds Death Penalty Less Morally Acceptable in New Gallup Survey
Gallup recently released its Values and Beliefs survey regarding American moral views on a variety of social issues. The results revealed a significant decline in the percentage of the public that finds the death penalty “morally acceptable.” This year, only 58% of respondents said the death penalty is morally acceptable, down from 65% last year. (Click on graph to enlarge.) This marks the lowest approval rating for capital punishment since this survey was first administered 12 years ago. Among…
Issues
Oct 14, 2011
PUBLIC OPINION: Gallup Poll Reports Lowest Support for Death Penalty in Nearly 40 Years
Recent polls conducted by Gallup and CNN indicate Americans’ support for the death penalty is continuing to decline. According to Gallup’s 2011 poll, the percentage of Americans approving the death penalty as a punishment for murder dropped to its lowest level in 39 years. Only 61% supported capital punishment in theory, down from 64% last year and from 80% support in 1994. This is the lowest level of support since 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Furman v. Georgia voided death…