2001 Moratorium Poll Summary and Results

Madonna Yost Opinion Research
Summary: Pennsylvania Death Penalty Poll
March 2001
509 Registered Voters (PA)

          This report presents an overview of findings for a survey of Pennsylvania voters’ attitudes toward the death penalty. The survey, conducted from March 3 -13, 2001, interviewed a randomly selected sample of 509 registered Pennsylvania voters (sample error of ± 4.3%). Madonna Yost Opinion Research designed the survey. The survey finds that a large majority of citizens favors the use of the death penalty, but that this support masks a number of misgivings and concerns about its use. The survey also finds that most voters are willing to have the death penalty suspended until questions about its fairness can be further studied.

          A majority (71%) of Pennsylvania voters favors the death penalty, which is comparable to the support for the death penalty reported in national surveys. In Pennsylvania, more men (82%) than women (72%), and more whites (79%) than African-Americans (62%), favor the death penalty (although a majority of voters in each group favors it). Support for the death penalty is primarily based upon the desire for justice (61% of those who favor the death penalty). Few people support the death penalty because they see it as a deterrent (12%) or as less expensive than housing inmates for life (8%). Those who oppose the death penalty do so because they simply believe it is improper to take a life (53% of opponents). Only a few (11%) opponents are primarily concerned about false convictions.

           Although there is strong support for the death penalty in Pennsylvania, there is equally strong support (67%) for a sentence of ‘life in prison without parole’ as an alternative to the death penalty - even a majority (51%) of those who ‘strongly favor’ the death penalty would accept this sentence.

           Many citizens are unsure about how fairly the death penalty is applied. About two in five (39%) voters say the death penalty is applied fairly, while about one in three (34%) believes it is not, with the rest unsure. Only fifteen percent of African-American respondents think the death penalty is fairly applied. Most Pennsylvania voters want to see questions about the death penalty’s fairness resolved, as three in four (72%) favor the suspension of the death penalty until questions about its fairness can be studied.

           Citizens are nearly unanimous (89%) in their belief that innocent people are ‘sometimes’ convicted of murder; however, citizens also believe that wrong convictions are relatively uncommon. Only one in twenty (5%) voters think that the conviction of innocent persons is a ‘frequent’ occurrence.

           Few people say that they base their votes on the death penalty issue. Only one in ten (10%) voters has ever voted for a candidate based on the death penalty issue.

           A majority of voters believes that the poor are more likely than the wealthy to be executed (69% agree) and that blacks are more likely than whites to be executed (51% agree). Majorities also agree that it is too expensive to keep convicted murderers in prison for life (66% agree) and that the death penalty serves as a deterrent (54%).


Questionairre

Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder? [Is that strongly or somewhat favor/oppose]?
What is the MAIN reason you [FAVOR/OPPOSE] the death penalty? Which of the following comes closest to your opinion of who should be given the death penalty? In your opinion, is the death penalty imposed too often, or not often enough? From what you know, do you think the death penalty is applied fairly, or not? What makes you think it [IS/IS NOT] applied fairly? Do you think that innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder, or not? In recent years, how often do you think that a person has been executed who was, in fact, innocent of the crime he was charged with? Do you think this . . . Last year, the governor of Illinois suspended all executions in the state because he said a number of errors had been made in sentencing people to die and he wanted to make sure no innocent people were executed. Do you think Pennsylvania should also suspend executions, or should executions continue in Pennsylvania? New and more sophisticated DNA testing is now available that might help prove the innocence of some current death row inmates. Do you think that states should permit DNA testing in all cases where it might prove a person’s guilt or innocence, or not? Do you think the federal government should require states to permit DNA testing in all cases where it might prove a person’s guilt or innocence, or not? In order to eliminate the possibility of executing an innocent person wrongly sentenced to death, would you support a sentence of “life in prison with no chance of parole” as an alternative to the death penalty? There have been several instances in which persons sentenced to be executed have been released based on new evidence or DNA testing. Based on this information, would you favor or oppose a suspension of the death penalty until questions about its fairness can be studied? Please tell me whether you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Do you agree or disagree that . . .

Executing people who commit murder deters others from committing murder.
A poor person is more likely than a person of average or above average income to receive the death penalty for the same crime.
A black person is more likely than a white person to receive the death penalty for the same crime.
A mentally retarded person is more likely than a person of average or above average intelligence to receive the death penalty for the same crime.
Juries in death penalty cases should be permitted to hear and consider the wishes of family members of the murder victim if they do not want the person convicted of the crime to be executed. There is at least one innocent person on death row in Pennsylvania. It just costs too much money to keep convicted murders in prison for life. Have you ever voted for or against a candidate for public office based primarily on the candidate’s position on the death penalty? If your state legislator voted to pass a law that placed a temporary moratorium on the death penalty while issues about its fairness are further studied, would you be MORE likely or LESS likely to vote for him or her? Are you registered as a Republican, a Democrat, or as something else?
What was your age on your last birthday? What is the highest grade level of schooling you have completed? How many adults 18 years of age or older are currently living in your home? Please include yourself, but do not include any children away at college or in the military. Do you have any children under 18 who live in your home? What is your current marital status? Are you: Is your racial background white, African-American, Asian, American Indian, or something else? What is your total family income per year? Sex:


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