Support for death penalty dips to minority among US adults for first time in decades

Support for the death penalty among U.S. adults has dropped below the majority level for the first time since 1971, a new Gallup poll found.

Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults said they are in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers, while another 45% said they are opposed, the Nov. 10 poll said. While Gallup called the findings statistically similar to last year's rate of 52% approval, the new poll marks the first time support for the practice has been a minority position since 1971, when it was also at 49%.

Gallup said the last time support was lower than its current findings was in 1966, when a record-low 42% favored the death penalty. Support peaked at 80% in 1994, it said. Gallup said it first measured Americans' opinions about the death penalty in 1936.

The decline was primarily driven by declines in support for the practice among Democrats and younger generations of U.S. adults, Gallup said.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in written comments to OSV News, "These results are a clear indication that fewer and fewer people are buying the false rhetoric that the death penalty is effective or fair."

"Quite the contrary, in fact: Capital punishment introduces more violence and trauma to families, to our communities, and to society," Vaillancourt Murphy said. "It's encouraging to see the continued shift away from the culture of death and toward a culture of life."

Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said in a statement, "This is the second poll in a row to show that we are at a pivotal turning point in public opinion on the death penalty, as Americans have been horrified by the recent botched executions, as well as the proposal to livestream an execution. At the same time, both Republican and Democratic governors have been granting clemencies at an increasing pace. The death penalty is being seen for what it is, an utter failure."

Gallup said the findings are from a poll conducted Oct. 1-19, which began the day after the failed execution of Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike. Tennessee has suspended executions in the state for an investigation.