Support for death penalty reaches 50-year low, poll finds

A Gallup survey found just 49% of Americans approve. Support for the death penalty in the US has dropped to a more than 50-year low following a botched execution in Tennessee. Forty-nine percent of American adults approve of the death penalty for convicted murderers, according to Gallup, the first time the figure has dropped below 50% since 1971. Support for the death penalty is sliding among all political groups but most among Democrats, only 28% of whom are currently in favor. Seventy-three percent of Republicans are in favor of it, as well as half of independents. The poll was taken after the botched killing by lethal injection of Christa Pike, which caused Tennessee to pause executions for the remainder of the year. Outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a possible 2028 Democratic presidential contender, also recently spared the lives of hundreds of prisoners on the state’s death row.