When presented with a choice, more Pennsylvanians “overwhelmingly prefer life sentences over the death penalty, according to a poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, Death Penalty Policy Project (DP3) Director Rob Dunham reported in his substack.
“Fifty-eight percent of Pennsylvanians believe a life sentence is the most appropriate punishment for people convicted of murder. That was double the number (29%) who indicated that they preferred the death penalty,” DP3 Director Robert Dunham stated.
This was the first time voters were asked how they felt about the death penalty since 2023, when Gov. Josh Shapiro announced he would continue the state’s moratorium on executions, first put in place by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015. At the same time, Shapiro “invited the legislature to send him a bill to abolish the state’s death penalty,” according to Dunham.
“What has happened over the course of the ten years of Pennsylvania’s death penalty moratorium should bolster legislative efforts to end the death penalty in the state,” Dunham writes. “The current gap between today’s voters’ preference for alternatives to the death penalty and their preference for capital punishment is now 29 percentage points, 17 percentage points wider than a decade ago.”