Philip Argauer JMJ

AP Assignment - Public Opinion

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; these are the three overarching inalienable

rights given to man from God and outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Every American

agrees that these rights should not be trampled upon by the government nor anyone single

offender. The founders set up the rule of law by which all American citizens now abide. And,

when people break the law, there are different measures which law enforcement can take to

punish and reprimand the offender depending on the severity of the offense. One of the most

extreme measures which can be taken against any criminal is the sentence of capital punishment,

also known as the death penalty. Currently, capital punishment is legal in the United States

according to the Legal Information Institute, “The Supreme Court has ruled that the death

penalty does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment…” Two

major polling organizations, Gallup and the Pew Research Center, have done extensive polling to

discover the public opinion concerning the issue.

Public support for the death penalty has been fluctuating as shown in both Table 1, Table

2, and Table 3. Table 1 and 2 are the results of a public opinion survey from the Pew Research

Center which began in 1996 to the present. This poll asked randomly selected volunteers if they

were in favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder. Table 2 comes from

the same Pew Center poll, breaking down the answers into political party. Table 3 comes from

Gallup and shows the results of a poll beginning in 1937 to the present. The poll asked random

adults within the U.S., “Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?”

Both polls show the general declining support for the death penalty. Each show that

since approximately 1995, the approval for capital punishment has seen a downward trend. It is

not surprising that each poll follows roughly the exact same trends. Both questions were phrased
Philip Argauer JMJ

very similarly. Each organization has experience taking public opinion polls, so they should

obtain similar numbers. However, the one differentiating statistic, is the most recent poll taken

from April through May of 2018. There is an uptick in the support of the death penalty (from

49% in 2016 to 54% in 2018) within this past two years, but it has stayed low in comparison to

the past two decades.

One reason for this small surge may be due to the rising safety of America. The crime

rate has been dramatically decreasing over the past quarter century and with the rapid advances

in technology, local law enforcement is easier to reach. Technology too has shown

advancements in security cameras and other safety measures has increased the risk of crime in

general. Due to this feeling of safety and security, it is not outlandish to suggest that Americans

have become softer on crime.

Table 1 (From http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/11/us-support-for-death-penalty-

ticks-up-2018/)
Philip Argauer JMJ

Table 2 (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/11/us-support-for-death-penalty-ticks-up-2018/)

Table 3 (From https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/Gallup-Support_for_Death_Penalty_Falls_in_2017)