Raleigh, N.C. – North Carolina voter support of the death penalty for violent offenders remains high, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Seventy percent of voters said they support the death penalty for violent offenders in North Carolina. Twenty-four percent said they oppose it, and 6 percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
Despite a de-facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2006, support for it has consistently remained high throughout the history of Civitas polling. A January 2011 Civitas Institute poll revealed a record 71 percent of North Carolina voters support the death penalty.
Moreover, this continues to be a bipartisan issue with 80 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of unaffiliated voters, and 63 percent of Democrats in support.
“If and when the legislature moves to repeal the misnamed ‘Racial Justice Act’ and end the moratorium on the death penalty, the people of North Carolina will be solidly behind them,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:
“Do you support or oppose the death penalty for violent offenders in North Carolina?”
Total Support – 70%
Total Oppose – 24%
Strongly Support – 49%
Somewhat Support – 21%
Somewhat Oppose – 8%
Strongly Oppose – 16%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 6%
Refused – 1%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted May 10-11, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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