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 last June and in November 2009.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of adults believe the death penalty helps deter crime, but 39% disagree. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure. Still, Americans are more confident that the death penalty helps deter crime than they were last June, when they were evenly divided on the question. The latest results are similar to those found in late 2009.
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 with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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. But a plurality (45%) of those of other races agree with 50% of whites that capital punishment is a deterrent to crime. Sixty-two percent (62%) of blacks disagree.
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% to 33% margin. But then 59% of Democrats don't think capital punishment helps deter crime, while 68% of Republicans and a plurality (46%) of unaffiliateds think it does have that effect.
In February, 62% of Likely U.S. Voters said Major Nadal Malik Hasan should receive the death penalty if he is found guilty for murdering 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas in November 2009.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Adults support the death penalty for Jared Loughner, the Arizona man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing 6 others earlier this year.
Less than half of adults nationwide believe the U.S. system of justice is fair to most Americans. But far more think the problem with the system is not that the innocent are treated unfairly but that the guilty go free.
More adults than ever report that crime in their community has increased over the past year, and most think the continuing bad economy will cause the crime rate to rise even higher.
Source: Rasmussen Reports, July 1, 2011
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