Drop in Minorities' Support for Death Penalty

A recent Zogby International poll shows that African-American and Hispanic support for the death penalty in particularly heinous crimes has dropped in the past few months.

In February, a Zogby International Poll showed that, among Hispanics, 59.6% strongly supported the death penalty and 13.3% supported it somewhat vs. just 6.4% who were somewhat opposed and 15.8% who were strongly opposed.

Among African-Americans results were similar: 47% gave strong support, 16.9% supported it somewhat, 9.9% were somewhat opposed and 21.7% were strongly opposed to the punishment.

However, in a June Zogby survey completed during the execution of Gary Graham in Texas, the degree of support declined significantly. Though, overall, 70.5% still backed the death penalty, support dropped from 72.9% to 66.4% among Hispanics and from 63.9% to 47.3% among African Americans, with 43.3% of African Americans voicing opposition.