A majority of Americans now support capital punishment for convicted killers — up six points from 2021 — though sharp divisions along party lines exist over whether the death penalty is “morally justified” or deters serious crimes.
The shifting opinion follows overtures by the Trump administration to expand the application of capital punishment at the federal level, and several states moving to increase its use within their borders.
According to a new Pew Research poll, 66% of Americans said they either “strongly favor” (30%) or “somewhat favor” (36%) the death penalty for those convicted of murder.
Among those against, 20% said they “somewhat oppose” capital punishment for convicted murders, and just 13% said they “strongly oppose.”
The numbers represent a 6% uptick in support since April 2021, but are roughly the same as they were in August 2020, according to Pew.
The survey delved into some additional specifics about the death penalty’s application, revealing some noteworthy divides.
A strong majority of those surveyed, 68%, said they believe the death penalty is “morally justified” when someone commits a crime like murder, while a paltry 28% disagreed.
Interestingly, there was a 20-point gap between those who feel the existence of the death penalty acts as a deterrent for violent crimes like murder, with 39% saying they agree versus 59% who said they disagree.
There were pronounced divisions between America’s major political parties, with Republicans considerably more in favor than Democrats.
Among Republican respondents, 84% said they favored the death penalty, with the narrowest of majorities of Democrat respondents — 51% — voicing their agreement.
The “morally justified” gap narrowed somewhat when posing the question by party affiliation, but Republicans were far more likely to answer in the affirmative (85%) than Democrats (55%).
There was also a 30-point gulf between the parties when asked whether capital punishment deters serious crimes, with 55% of Republicans and just 25% of Democrats saying they agree.
The Pew Research Center surveyed 3,554 U.S. adults between July 6-12.
President Trump has pushed to strengthen the death penalty at the federal level since his first term in office — starting with reversing the freeze on such executions under the Biden administration.
The president issued an executive order on capital punishment the first day of his second term in office, directing the Justice Department to expand execution methods to include the firing squad and expediting death penalty cases, which currently average nearly 20 years, according to Bureau of Justice statistics.
The administration has also pursued seeking the death penalty more aggressively in crimes involving the murder of a law enforcement officer or capital crimes committed by an illegal immigrant.
Some US states have stepped up their readiness and implementation of capital punishment in recent years.
Last year, 47 inmates were put to death across 11 states, up from 25 in 2024.
Florida led all states with 19 executions, with death penalty proponent Gov. Ron DeSantis touting it as a “strong deterrent,” and “an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders.”
The governor has also taken steps to make it easier for death penalty sentences to be handed down, eliminating the state’s requirement for a unanimous jury recommendation to impose capital punishment in 2023.
Idaho completed a new $1.2 million execution chamber inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution last month, where eight inmates are awaiting death by firing squad.
Last year, Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a bill making the Gem State the only state in the nation designating the firing squad as its preferred execution method for capital punishment.
Other states in recent years have carried out their first executions after a lengthy hiatus.
Louisiana put convicted murderer Jessie Hoffman Jr. to death on March 18, 2025, the state’s first implementation of the ultimate penalty in 15 years, and its first using nitrogen gas, a recently implemented method of execution.
Indiana broke its own 15-year freeze on capital punishment with the May 20, 2025, execution of Benjamin Ritchie, a convicted cop killer who had been on death row since 2002.
American approval for the death penalty has ebbed and flowed over the decades, with around 61% supporting it in 1936 and climbing to around 68% by 1953, according to Gallup.
However, support began to erode that decade, and dipped to historic lows of 42% in 1966.
In 1972, the Supreme Court effectively suspended the death penalty, voting 5 to 4 that it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, striking down all existing state and federal capital punishment laws.
This sent the decision over meting out capital punishment back to the states, 35 of which rewrote their own death penalty statutes by 1976 starting with Florida, which enacted its own death penalty statute within five months of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty’s constitutionality that same year.
Public approval for the death penalty then rebounded between the 1970s and 80s, peaking in the mid-60s by the late ’70s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Support roared to all-time highs in the 1990s, surging to a peak of 80% in 1994 as concern over violent crimes spiked nationwide.
That year, former President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Enforcement Act of 1994, which expanded the federal death penalty to cover some 60 different offenses including treason, espionage and large-scale drug trafficking, according to the Justice Department.
In the 2000s and 2010s, support for capital punishment again slid below 60%, and continued its decline to settle in the low 50s in the early 2020s, according to Gallup.
