Half of Americans Support the Death Penalty

Amnesty International released this week its annual Death Sentences and Executions report for the year 2025. The NGO paints a bleak picture: in 2025, executions globally increased by 78 percent compared to the previous year, with at least 2,707 people known to have been put to death by the state. While this sharp rise is mostly driven by Iran, which intensified its use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression, many of the countries still using capital punishment saw a rise in executions last year. In the United States, 47 executions were recorded in 2025, up from 25 the previous year.

As our infographic shows, support for the death penalty remains high in the U.S. A recent Economist/YouGov poll found that almost one in two Americans (49 percent) said they were in favor of capital punishment for people convicted of murder, while only 26 percent opposed it. The survey, conducted between May 1-4, found that women were less likely to support the use of the death penalty than men (45 percent versus 53 percent), but also less likely to oppose it (25 percent versus 28 percent). There was also a sharp divide between Democrats and Republicans: a quarter of Democrats (25 percent) supported the use of the death penalty, compared to over three quarters of Republicans (76 percent).