Low Percentage of Americans Now Find Death Penalty Morally Acceptable

According to a new national poll by the Gallup organization, the percentage of Americans who consider the death penalty to be morally acceptable has fallen to a record-low. The 2020 Values and Beliefs Poll, released on June 23, shows that 54% of U.S. adults now say the death penalty is morally acceptable. That number represents a 6% decline over the course of the last year and is the lowest in the 20-year history of the poll. In 2006, the poll showed that 71% of respondents believed that the death penalty was morally acceptable; conversely, the percentage of Americans who said the death penalty is morally wrong reached a record high of 40% this year. 

The poll is in line with Gallup polling last fall that showed a decrease in public support for the death penalty and record-high preference for life imprisonment over the death penalty.