USA - Survey: support for the death penalty remains high

Support for the death penalty remains high, and adults are a bit more confident that capital punishment helps deter crime than they were a year ago. The latest Rasmussen Reports national survey shows that 63% of American Adults favor the death penalty, while 25% oppose it. Another 12% are undecided. The number of adults who support the death penalty is virtually identical to surveys conducted in 2010 and in 2009. Forty-seven percent (47%) of adults believe the death penalty helps deter crime, but 39% disagree. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure. Men are more supportive than women of the death penalty and feel more strongly that it helps deter crime. Adults under 30 are less supportive of capital punishment than their elders and more doubtful about its impact on crime. Seventy percent (70%) of whites favor the death penalty, compared to 46% of blacks and 36% of adults of other races. Most Republicans (81%) and adults not affiliated with either major political party (64%) support the death penalty. Democrats share that support but by a much narrower 45%. The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 25-26, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points.