Public Opinion
The Field Research Corporation found in February 2004 that when asked how they personally felt about capital punishment, 68% supported it and 31% opposed it (6% offered no opinion). This was a fall from 72% two years previous, and a rise from 63% in 2000. The 2004 poll was asked about the time that Kevin Cooper had his execution stayed hours before his scheduled death after 20 years on Death Row.
When asked if they thought the death penalty generally fair and free of error in California, 58% agreed and 32% disagreed (11% offered no opinion). When the results were broken down along ethnicity, of the people who identified themselves as African American, 57% disagreed that the death penalty was fair and free of error.
A poll from March 2012 that found that "61% of registered voters from the state of California say they would vote to keep the death penalty, should a death penalty initiative appear on the November 2012 ballot" and an August 2012 poll which found that "support for Prop 34, which would repeal California's death penalty, fell from 45.5% to 35.9%."
Polling as recent as September, 2012 shows that 55% of all adults and 50% of likely voters prefer life in prison without the possibility of parole over the death penalty when given the choice.
Read more about this topic: Capital Punishment In California
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