USA - Death Penalty Poll 2015: Support At Record Low

Death Penalty Poll 2015: Support At Record Low, New Survey Shows. A majority of people in the U.S. believe murderers should be put to death, but support for the death penalty is lower than it has been in nearly two generations, according to a nationwide survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. The poll found that 56 % of Americans favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, a decrease of 6 % points since Pew's last survey, in 2011. 38 % of Americans oppose the death penalty, according to the latest survey. Pew's survey, conducted among 1,500 adults from March 25 to 29, found that much of the decrease in death penalty support has been among Democrats. Currently, 40 % of Democrats favor the death penalty, while 56 % oppose it. In 1996, Democrats favored capital punishment by a wide margin, 71-25. Republican support for the death penalty also decreased, Pew said, although the decline wasn't as steep. 77 % of GOP voters favor the death penalty, compared with 87 % who favored it in 1996. Other key findings in Pew's latest survey include a concern among 71 % of Americans that the death penalty risks an innocent person being put to death. 26% say there are adequate safeguards in place to make sure that does not happen. 61% say the death penalty does not deter people from committing serious crimes; 35% say it does deter serious crime. 52% say that minorities are more likely than whites to be sentenced to death for similar crimes; fewer (41%) think that whites and minorities are equally likely to be sentenced for similar. The survey also finds that Americans are relatively unaware about whether the number of death penalty executions taking place in the U.S. has changed in recent years. Men are more likely than women to favor the death penalty (64% vs. 49%). Wide racial differences persist: 63% of whites favor the death penalty, compared with 34% of blacks and 45% of Hispanics. Age differences in views of the death penalty continue to be modest. 51% of those under 30 favor the death penalty, as do 57% of those 30 to 49, 61% of those 50 to 64 and 54% of those 65 and older. Among religious groups, sizable majorities of white evangelical Protestants (71%), white mainline Protestants (66%) and white Catholics (63%) favor the death penalty. But those who are religiously unaffiliated are divided (48% favor, 45% oppose). The sampling error is 2.9%.