Polling Trends

National and state polls have been conducted around the issue of the death penalty in recent years. Though the questions are phrased differently from state to state, one trend is consistent in the results: there has been a steady decline in support for capital punishment.

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) is the resource we rely on for accurate, matter-of-fact information about what polls have been conducted and in which states.

The most recent national poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners in 2010. The results were described by the Death Penalty Information Center:

A national poll of 1,500 registered voters conducted by Lake Research Partners shows growing support for alternatives to the death penalty compared with previous polls. A clear majority of voters (61%) would choose a punishment other than the death penalty for murder, including life with no possibility of parole and with restitution to the victim’s family (39%), life with no possibility of parole (13%), or life with the possibility of parole (9%).

Key findings by Lake Research Partners

• Costs emerged as an important concern for a strong majority of Americans. Sixty-eight percent said cost was a very or somewhat convincing argument against the death penalty. Voters ranked emergency services, creating jobs, police and crime prevention, schools and libraries, public health care services, and roads and transportation as more important budget priorities than the death penalty.    

• A strong majority of respondents (65%) would favor replacing the death penalty with life with no possibility of parole if the money saved were used to fund crime prevention programs.

• Hispanic voters were among those most willing to replace the death penalty with an alternative punishment. They responded most strongly to moral objections to the death penalty rooted in faith, as well as the argument that the death penalty is particularly unfair along racial lines. 

The poll explored the information that the public uses to make up its mind about the death penalty and the problems they see with this punishment. 

• Some of the public’s top concerns about the death penalty were that it is applied unevenly and unfairly; it subjects victims’ families to lengthy trials and years of appeals that interfere with the healing process; and it risks executing the innocent.

• Spending millions of dollars on the death penalty, at a time when states are cutting back on services such as police forces, schools, and public health, and when life in prison would cost less, was also of concern to voters. 

• Moral and religious objections to the death penalty were strong among Latino and Catholic voters.