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CNN Live At Daybreak

Gallup Poll: Slight Majority of Americans Support Death Penalty

Aired June 27, 2001 - 07:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Have American attitudes really changed when it comes to the death penalty? Frank Newport, Gallup Poll editor-in-chief, has been checking.

Frank, I know you've been asking this question for the last 60 years. Have you seen a change in American opinion?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: You're right, Carol. This is one of the absolute first questions Gallup started asking many, many years ago, before World War II. There have been some changes, but they haven't been as much recently as they were back in the '60s and '70s.

I put some high points on this for you. Way back in 1936, you can see it was 60 percent of Americans favored the death penalty in cases of murder. This is that point in the '60's, Carol, where the support actually came below 50 percent. There was a moratorium on that penalty at that time, and the public kind of went along with that.

But boy, moving into the '70s, and then, by 1994, the percent who favored it was all the way up to 80 percent.

A lot's been made out of the fact that we've seen a slight drop since then. Our most recent reading, just a month or two ago, Carol, was at 65 percent.

So basically, most of the time, a majority has supported the death penalty, except for that one point in time -- Carol.

LIN: What happens when you introduce the question, but with an alternative, like life imprisonment. Do those opinions change?

NEWPORT: Yes, that's a very good question because a lot of opponents say that that first question I showed you isn't fair because it doesn't give people an alternative. So we have asked them this question: What if it's the death penalty versus life imprisonment with absolutely -- we use the word "absolutely" -- no chance of parole. Here you find the support comes down, Carol, but still you can see it's 52 percent who support it even with that kind of alternative.

LIN: All right, the president of the United States, President Bush, says that the death penalty can be used as a deterrent. How do Americans feel about that opinion?

NEWPORT: They don't agree. President Bush has said on several occasions he supports it because it's a deterrent -- he said that implicitly -- but when we asked the public, "Why do you support the death penalty?" the deterrence factor is actually quite low. Only 10 percent mention that. Look, you can see the reasons here, Carol. The interesting point is it's biblical: an eye for an eye is justice -- that's what over half of Americans say is the reason they support the death penalty.

And by the way, opponents of the death penalty say that it's applied unfairly, innocent people may be executed. The public agrees. Look at this, Carol: 80 percent in a poll we did said at least once in the last five years they believe an innocent person has been executed. They still support it, as we saw, at 65 percent.

LIN: Yes, and as Justice Kogan was pointing out if technology improves, the ability to investigate these cases becomes more detailed. So we'll see what happens.

Thanks very much, Frank Newport.

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