USA - Gallup Poll: most Americans still back death penalty

Most Americans still back death penalty: poll. Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the death penalty, showing little change over the past decade, and half say it should be used more often, Gallup's annual survey showed. Around 65 percent of the 1,013 adults surveyed said they were in favor of capital punishment, compared to 31 percent who opposed it, the poll found. Pro-death penalty numbers have remained relatively steady since Gallup began surveying US public opinion on this issue in 1936, when 59 percent supported capital punishment. In 1994, when crime was a major concern, the number reached 80 percent. The Gallup poll found this year that 49 percent of Americans said the death penalty is not imposed often enough, even though 59 percent agreed that at least one innocent person was put to death in the past five years. Twenty-four percent said the death penalty is imposed "about the right amount," compared to 20 percent who said it is imposed too often, down from 23 percent in recent years. Gallup research has found that support for the death penalty is lower if Americans are offered an explicit alternative -- "life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole." In May 2006, for example, 65% of Americans supported the death penalty in general (matching the current figure), while, separately, 47% said they preferred the death penalty to life imprisonment as a penalty for murder when given that choice (48% favored life imprisonment). Along party lines, Republicans are more supportive of capital punishment (81 percent) than Democrats (48 percent). Conducted October 1-4, the telephone survey had a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.