USA - Oklahoma. Oklahomans give 67% support to death penalty, poll finds.

Oklahomans give overwhelming support to death penalty, poll finds. A poll of 500 registered voters conducted last week by The Oklahoman in partnership with Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates found that 67 percent of Oklahomans support the death penalty, with 49 percent expressing strong support. Despite three recent botched attempts leading to a state-ordered moratorium on executions, a majority of Oklahomans continue to support the death penalty. But support for the death penalty in Oklahoma could be waning. The poll found that 24 percent oppose the death penalty, double the amount of those surveyed in a 2014 Tulsa World poll that found 74 percent of Oklahomans supported the death penalty while only 12 percent were in opposition. Half of those polled in The Oklahoman's study also support the state's current moratorium on executions. Forty one percent oppose the moratorium. The poll found that 62 percent of women and 73 percent of men supported the death penalty, while 80 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of Democrats were in favor. Support for capital punishment was stronger in rural areas, with 78 percent of those polled favoring the death penalty. Meanwhile, only 56 percent of those polled in the state's two major metropolitan areas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, favored the death penalty. Newspaper readers are the least supportive of the death penalty, with 58 percent in favor and 29 percent opposed, while those getting their information from local television news are the most supportive with 73 percent in favor and 20 opposed. Support for the moratorium increases with age. Only 43 percent of those under 45 support the moratorium, while 54 percent of those over 65 do so. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a group that studies capital punishment in America, said the new polling doesn't surprise him considering that both Republicans and Democrats in Oklahoma tend to be more conservative than their counterparts nationwide. “The data suggests to me that Oklahoma is going through the same kind of rethinking process that the rest of the country is,” Dunham said, noting Oklahoma's support is comparable to the nation's in 2001 and is following the same downward trend.