Gallup Poll: 35% oppose death penalty

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Gallup Poll: 35% oppose death penalty

www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/story/2011-10-12/gallup-poll-death-penalty/50747430/1

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Abolitionists like Greg Mitchell, author of “Dead Reckoning,” which tracks the history of the death penalty, say it is mistake to assume, based on polling data, that the majority of Americans support the death penalty, because the question does not offer life without parole as an alternative punishment. When asked in other polls, he says, Americans tend to be more evenly divided.

For example, when Gallup gave the choice between death penalty and life imprisonment without parole, 49 percent choose the former and 46 the latter. (Gallup did not ask the question this year.)

www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/1015/Florida-firing-squads-What-has-death-penalty-supporters-all-riled-up/(page)/2

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New York Times
Editorial
The Death Penalty’s De Facto Abolition

www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/opinion/the-death-penaltys-de-facto-abolition.html?_r=1&emc=eta1