PRESS RELEASE

A Gallup Poll released today shows that the American people remain strongly in favor of capital punishment. When asked, “In your opinion, is the death penalty imposed: too often, about the right amount, or not often enough?” 51% said not often enough and 25% said about right. The sum of 76% for current or tougher capital sentencing has been steady in a narrow range of 71% to 77% for the five years Gallup has been asking this question.

“This poll confirms that the American people are not turning away from the death penalty,” said Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director of the California-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports capital punishment. “Claims to that effect by opponents of the death penalty are wishful thinking.”

The poll also confirms the annual moral values poll released last week by Gallup. That poll showed 71% of the American people consider capital punishment to be morally acceptable, the highest level of support for any of the 16 issues in the survey.

Since 1936, Gallup has asked the question, “Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?” On this question, 65% said yes and 28% said no. This question understates support for current law by implying a single punishment for all murderers, according to CJLF’s Scheidegger. Since the restoration of capital punishment in 1976, all states with the death penalty have limited that punishment to a narrowed set of the worst murderers.

Since 1985, Gallup has also asked an even more heavily stacked question, “If you could choose between the following two approaches, which do you think is the better penalty for murder: the death penalty (or) life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole?” This question is slanted in two ways, according to CJLF. It requires a choice of a single punishment for all murders, and it incorrectly implies that parole can be absolutely precluded against future commutation or legislative changes. This question produced a statistical tie: 47% for death penalty versus 48% for life without parole. “It is quite remarkable on any controversial issue that a question heavily stacked in one side’s favor would produce no better than a tie,” said Scheidegger. “If they asked which punishment is appropriate for the worst murderers, which is the real question, the results would be quite different.”