Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the death penalty, showing little change over the past decade, and half say it should be used more often, Gallup's annual survey showed Tuesday. Around 65 percent of the 1,013 adults surveyed said they were in favour of capital punishment, compared to 31 percent who opposed it, the poll found.
Pro-death penalty numbers have remained relatively steady since Gallup began surveying US public opinion on this issue in 1936, when 59 percent supported capital punishment. In 1994, when crime was a major concern, the number reached 80 percent. The Gallup poll found this year that 49 percent of Americans said the death penalty is not imposed often enough, even though 59 percent agreed that at least one innocent person was put to death in the past five years. Twenty-four percent said the death penalty is imposed "about the right amount," compared to 20 percent who said it is imposed too often, down from 23 percent in recent years.
Along party lines, Republicans are more supportive of capital punishment (81 percent) than Democrats (48 percent). Since the start of the year, 40 convicted felons have been put to death in the United States.
On September 15, executioners at an Ohio prison spent two hours looking for a vein to administer a lethal injection to Romell Broom, who in the end was returned alive to his cell, the first such case in 60 years. The botched execution rekindled national debate over lethal injections, which have run into numerous problems in recent years, although the US Supreme Court upheld its use as a method of execution in 2008. Conducted October 1-4, the telephone survey had a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.
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