For the first time since 1971, only a minority of Americans support the death penalty

In the United States, only 49 percent of adults support the death penalty for convicted murderers and 45 percent oppose it. This emerges from a survey published on Tuesday by the Gallup polling institute.

The last time approval was less than half was in 1971, when it was also 49 percent. The lowest value was measured in 1966 at 42 percent, the highest measurement was 80 percent in 1994.

The survey began a day after the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike. The 50-year-old survived two lethal injections in Nashville, Tennessee, at the end of September. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, she is the only prison inmate to survive a lethal injection.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a classmate. After being treated in the hospital, she is now back in prison and says she suffers from constant pain. Tennessee's governor has since suspended executions in the state pending an investigation.

Support has fallen most sharply among Democrats. Of them, 28 percent still support the death penalty, 28 points less than in 2000 and 47 points less than at its peak in 1994. Among party politically independents, the figure is 50 percent.

Among Republicans, approval is 73 percent. This is one of the lowest values ​​Gallup has ever recorded for this group; Since the 1990s, approval has been around 80 percent.

A majority of adults aged 50 and over continue to support the death penalty, while less than half of younger people support the death penalty. Among those under 30, the figure is 39 percent; in 2000 it was 61 percent in this age group. If this trend continues among younger generations, approval could decline further, writes Gallup.

Laura Porter of the US Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty sees the US “at a crucial turning point in public opinion on the death penalty”. US citizens are “appalled by the recent failed executions and the proposal to broadcast an execution live.”

At the same time, Republican and Democratic governors have increasingly issued pardons. “The death penalty is seen for what it is: a complete failure.”

After massive public outrage, US President Donald Trump recently canceled the controversial live broadcast of the execution of assassin Nidal Hasan by firing squad. California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted 548 death sentences to life imprisonment.

The death penalty has now been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, and a moratorium applies in three others - California, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Gallup surveyed 1,200 adults by telephone from October 1st to 19th. The margin of error is four percentage points.