Majority of Americans Support Death Penalty in US - Poll

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Fifty-five percent of Americans favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, marking the sixth consecutive year that support for capital punishment in the United States stands at between 54% and 56%, a new Gallup poll revealed.

"The majority of Americans, 55%, are in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers in the United States," a release on the poll said on Monday.

"While this marks the sixth consecutive year that support for capital punishment is between 54% and 56%, it is below the 60% to 80% readings recorded in the four prior decades between 1976 and 2016."

When Gallup began polling on the issue of capital punishment in 1936, 59% of Americans said they favored the death penalty and significant majorities have supported it since, with notable exceptions in 1957 and 1972, the report said.

In 1972, the US Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional. However, when the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, public support for it grew, peaking at 80% in 1994. At least 60% of adults in the United States favored capital punishment until 2017, when support dipped to the lowest point since 1972, and it remains at that level today.