Almost three-quarters of Americans support the death penalty for murderers.
Seventy-three percent of respondents believe that the death penalty should either be implemented in all cases of murder or depending on the circumstances, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.
The poll surveyed 1,500 adults between Oct. 16-18. The margin of error is approximately 3%.
WATCH: THE VIEW HOSTS ACCUSE DR. OZ OF BULLYING STROKE VICTIM JOHN FETTERMAN
Only 17% said they believe capital punishment is wrong.
The poll also asked about the ideal sentence for Nikolas Cruz, who was recently found guilty of killing 17 people in a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. The Jury recommended a life sentence rather than the death penalty after his three-month trial.
More than half (53%) said Cruz should’ve been sentenced to death. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) shared a similar sentiment after the verdict was revealed. “I just want to say one thing about this verdict,” he said at an October press conference. “If you have a death penalty at all, that that is a case, where you’re massacring those students — with premeditation and utter disregard for basic humanity—that you deserve the death penalty”
Only 1% said that Cruz should have received a lesser sentence than life in prison with the possibility of parole.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Currently, the U.S. is split roughly in half, some for the death penalty and others not. California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have a governor-imposed moratorium on capital punishment. Some of the states that do still allow for it find themselves hitting roadblocks and congestion because of the lengthy appeals processes, as well as the long approval processes for execution methods.
