According to Gallup:
- There has been a six-point decrease since last year in moral acceptability of death penalty
- Most find birth control, drinking alcohol, divorce to be morally acceptable
- The largest gap between liberals and conservatives (52 points) is on abortion
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A record-low 54% of Americans consider the death penalty to be morally acceptable, marking a six-percentage-point decrease since last year. This finding, from Gallup’s May 1-13 Values and Beliefs poll, is in line with polling last fallthat showed decreased public support for the death penalty and a record-high preference for life imprisonment over the death penalty as a better punishment for murder…
Of the 21 issues included in the latest poll, all but five have been measured since the early 2000s, and 13 are considered morally acceptable to majorities of Americans.
- At least seven in 10 U.S. adults say birth control, drinking alcohol, getting a divorce, sex between an unmarried man and woman, gambling, and smoking marijuana are acceptable moral behaviors.
- Likewise, two-thirds of Americans consider gay or lesbian relations, having a baby outside of marriage and medical research using human embryonic stem cells as acceptable.
- In addition to the death penalty, medical testing on animals, buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur, and doctor-assisted suicide are morally acceptable to narrower majorities.
- Views on abortion are split nearly evenly, with 47% saying it is morally wrong and 44% acceptable.
(Continued…)
Read the full article by clicking the link below:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/312929/record-low-say-death-penalty-morally-acceptable.aspx?
August 16, 2021
86% Death Penalty Support,, Depending Upon Crime Committed
New Evidence of Broad Support for Death Penalty | RealClearPolicy
Joseph M. Bessette & J. Andrew Sinclair, RealClearPolicy
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2021/08/16/new_evidence_of_broad_support_for_death_penalty_790059.html#!
As we all know, polling results are dependent upon four things:
1) the question asked
2) the answers provided
3) the knowledge of the respondents
4) the quality of the polling
Gallup asks if you support the death penalty for murders, with a yes or no answer, when only 10% of murders are subject to the death penalty.
When the question asked, is actually, as we use it, with a “sometimes” answer, support is above 80%.
If the answer was, more precisely, “sometimes but rarely”, it would be even higher.
In the modern death penalty era, we have given about 9500 death sentences, when we have had 900,000 murders.
As detailed:
a) August 16, 2021
86% Death Penalty Support, Depending Upon Crime Committed
New Evidence of Broad Support for Death Penalty | RealClearPolicy
Joseph M. Bessette & J. Andrew Sinclair, RealClearPolicy August 16, 2021
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2021/08/16/new_evidence_of_broad_support_for_death_penalty_790059.html#!
These polls, above and below, reflect well known polls, for the last 15 years, showing much higher death penalty support than by the oft quoted, much less accurate Gallup, as even, Gallup shows (see Gallup’s Mcveigh poll (below) vs their standard poll)
b) Death Penalty Polling
updated 3/2023
86% Death Penalty Support, Depending Upon Crime Committed
95-99% Support From Victim Survivors in Death Penalty Cases
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/12/poll-death-penalty.html
c) 86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever – April 2013
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victim’s Family Members Support Death Penalty
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html