The majority of U.S. adults do not support the death penalty, according to a recent poll. Death penalty support has fallen below the majority level—only 49% of adults are in favor of the death penalty, and 45% are opposed.
The last time support was lower, Gallup reports, was in 1966, when a record-low 42% favored the death penalty. Support has dropped dramatically since it peaked at 80% in 1994.
The results come from Gallup polling that started on October 1, the day after Tennessee failed in its attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced a pause in executions for the rest of the year.
Gallup reports that all political groups are less likely to favor the death penalty today than in the 1990s and 2000s, but the largest decline is among Democrats, whose support has declined by 28 points from 2000 to only 28% in favor of the death penalty.
Less than half of younger adults favor the death penalty today. For Americans under 30, the poll found that support has fallen to 39% from 61% in 2000. Younger Americans of all party groups (Democrats, Republicans, and independents) are less likely than older adults of their party to favor the death penalty.
Just last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he is commuting all 548 death sentences in his state, granting the largest mass clemency in American history. The historic decision reduces the U.S. death row population by nearly 30% to about 1,388 people, which is the fewest people with death sentences nationwide since 1984, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
DPIC also reported that more than half (56%) of capital juries chose a life sentence over a death sentence in 2025, which saw a continued decline in the imposition of new death sentences. For the fifth year in a row, fewer than 30 people were sentenced to death last year, according to DPIC.
“Americans’ support for the death penalty has declined significantly over the past three decades, led by declines among Democrats and younger generations of U.S. adults,” Gallup reports. “Now, less than a majority of U.S. adults are in favor of it, which has not been the case in over 50 years. Support for capital punishment may decline further if trends among younger generations continue.”