More Americans Still Favor Death Penalty

May 7, 2002 -- The terrorist crimes of Sept. 11 haven't altered basic views on capital punishment: Americans still divide about evenly on whether murderers in general should be put to death or locked up for the rest of their lives.

Most don't object to the death penalty on principle. A new ABCNEWS.com poll finds 65 percent of Americans support capital punishment when no alternative is offered. But given life without parole as an option, people divide — 46 percent for executions, 43 percent for life in prison.

These results are about the same as they've been in ABCNEWS polling for the last two years, with support for the death penalty below its peak. Previous polling has shown a decline in belief that executions work as a deterrent, and concern about uneven enforcement.

These questions ask about punishment for convicted murderers in general; support for the death penalty can be higher in specific cases. Last spring, for example, 75 percent of Americans favored executing Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. He was put to death by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

Preference for mandatory life prison sentences runs highest among nonwhites, Democrats, women and young adults. But even among Republicans, who very broadly support the death penalty in principle, far fewer — 50 percent — prefer it to mandatory life.

Given the choice, men prefer capital punishment over mandatory life by 53 percent to 36 percent, while women prefer mandatory life, 49 percent to 39 percent. Whites prefer the death penalty by 50 percent to 40 percent, but nonwhites broadly favor life terms, 59 percent to 26 percent.

Methodology

This ABCNEWS.com survey was conducted by telephone May 1-5 among a random national sample of 1,021 adults. Each question was administered to a random half of the total sample. The results have a 4.5-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation were done by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

Previous ABCNEWS polls can be found in our Poll Vault.