In an online poll by the Birmingham News last week, 78.8% of respondents said Alabama should abolish the death penalty altogether.
In an attempt to gauge how Alabamians feel about the death penalty as it’s currently applied in Alabama, the Birmingham News asked: “The state this past Thursday executed Jimmie Lee Dill for the 1988 murder of a drug dealer. Should the State of Alabama: Continue to execute people as we are currently doing? Temporarily stop to make sure executions are carried out fairly and without error? Abolish the death penalty altogether?”
14.3% said to continue as we are currently; 6.9% supported a temporary halt to executions. Well over two-thirds voted to abolish the death penalty altogether.
The results were published in the Sunday edition of the Birmingham News.
The informal online survey results parallel recent Gallup poll findings showing that support for capital punishment is waning nationwide. Last year, the percentage of Americans in favor of the death penalty fell to 64%.
Two states — New Jersey and New Mexico — recently abolished the death penalty.