THE

FIELD
POLL

THE INDEPENDENT AND NON-PARTISAN SURVEY

OF PUBLIC OPINION ESTABLISHED IN 1947 AS
THE CALIFORNIA POLL BY MERVIN FIELD

Field Research Corporation

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San Francisco, CA 94108-2814
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Release #2528

Release Date: Friday, January 15, 2016

CALIFORNIANS SHARPLY DIVIDED

ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THE
STATE'S DEATH PENALTY LAW.

IMPORTANT: Contract for this service is subject

to revocation if publication or broadcast takes
place before release date or if contents are
divulged to persons outside of subscriber staff
prior to release time. (ISSN 0195-4520)

By Mark DiCamillo, Director, The Field Poll

California voters are evenly split when asked what to do about the state's death penalty law, which
has been stymied by continuing court challenges over the past decade. Currently, 48% of voters
support the idea of speeding up the execution process. However, a nearly equivalent proportion
(47%) favors doing away with the death penalty altogether and replacing it with life-in-prison
without the possibility of parole.
This is a much closer division of sentiment than was found in 2014, the last time The Field Poll posed
this question. At that time, more Californians favored speeding up the execution process (52%) than
backed the idea of replacing the death penalty with life-in-prison (40%).
Opinions about what to do with the state's dysfunctional death penalty law divides voters along
political, demographic, regional and religious lines. For example...
While most Republicans and conservatives prefer taking steps to speed up administration of the
law, majorities of registered Democrats, liberals and political independents would rather do
away with the death penalty altogether and replace it with life-in-prison without parole.
While majorities of white non-Hispanics and Asian Americans would rather take steps to speed
up the execution process, most Latinos and African Americans back replacing capital
punishment with a sentence of life-in-prison without parole.
While majorities of Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians support efforts to speed up
the execution process, most Catholics and voters affiliated with non-Christian religions would
rather do away with the death sentence in favor of life-in-prison without parole.
While voters living in the state's forty-eight inland counties favor speeding up implementation
of the death penalty law, a majority of those living in state's more populous coastal counties
favor the law's elimination.
While voters age 50 or older back the idea of speeding up the execution process, more voters
under age 50 favor replacing the death penalty with life-in-prison without parole.
Field Research Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer

The Field Poll

Friday, January 15, 2016

#2528
Page 2

While a majority of voters who have attended college or trade school but did not earn a
bachelors degree support speeding up the death penalty process, majorities of those with no
college training along with voters who have completed post-graduation work support calls for
doing away with the death penalty in favor of life-in-prison without parole.
Californians sharply divided about what to do with the state's death penalty law
California voters are evenly split when asked what should be done with the state's death penalty
law. Since the death penalty was restored by voters in 1978, about 900 inmates have been sentenced
to death, yet the state has put to death just 13, and none in the past decade.
When asked what the state should do about this situation, 48% of voters favor taking steps to speed
up the execution process, while 47% support doing away with death penalty altogether and
replacing it with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The current findings represent a much closer division of opinion that was found in 2014, the last
time The Field Poll posed this question. At that time, 52% favored speeding up the execution
process, while 40% backed the idea of replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life-in-prison.
Table 1
What action do you support the state taking as a result of the
ongoing legal delays in carrying out the death sentence in California
(among California registered voters)
January
2016

September
2014

Take steps to speed up the execution process

48%

52%

Do away with death penalty and replace it with life-inprison without the possibility of parole

47

40

No opinion

Views about the death penalty law divide voters along political, demographic, regional and
religious lines
The issue of what to do with the state's death penalty law divides voters along political,
demographic, regional and religious lines. Majorities of Republicans, conservatives, men, white
non-Hispanics, Asian American, those age 50 or older, those who have attended college or trade
school but did not earn a bachelors degree, voters in the state's forty-eight inland counties,
Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians support speeding up the process.
However, their views are counter-balanced by an equally wide range of voter subgroups who favor
doing away with the death penalty altogether and replacing it with life in prison without the
possibility of parole. These groups include: registered Democrats, no party preference voters,
liberals, Latinos, African Americans, voters under age 50, voters with no more than a high school
education, voters who have a post-graduate education, voters in the state's coastal counties,
Catholics and voters affiliated with non-Christian religions.

The Field Poll

Friday, January 15, 2016

#2528
Page 3

Table 2
Which action should the state take as a result of the
ongoing legal delays in carrying out the death sentence in California
across subgroups of the registered voter population

Speed up
execution
process
Total registered voters
Area
Coastal counties
Inland counties
Party registration
Democrats
Republicans
No party preference/others
Political ideology
Strongly conservative
Moderately conservative
Middle-of-the-road
Moderately liberal
Strongly liberal
Gender
Male
Female
Race/ethnicity
White non-Hispanic
Latino
African American*
Asian American/other
Age
18-39
40-49
50-64
65 or older
Religion
Protestant/Christian
Catholic
Other non-Christian religions
No religious preference
Education
High school or less
Some college/trade school
College graduate
Post-graduate work
* Small sample base.

Do away with
death penalty/
replace with
life in prison
without parole

No
opinion

48%

47

44%
60%

51
37

5
3

34%
73%
44%

60
22
52

6
5
4

84%
53%
49%
35%
21%

12
43
45
59
76

4
4
6
6
3

51%
46%

45
49

4
5

52%
42%
36%
51%

43
54
61
40

5
4
3
9

43%
46%
54%
49%

51
50
42
45

6
4
4
6

58%
45%
36%
42%

37
52
62
49

5
3
2
9

41%
60%
50%
32%

54
36
45
62

5
4
5
6

The Field Poll

Friday, January 15, 2016

#2528
Page 4

Competing death penalty initiatives may appear on the November statewide ballot
California voters may be asked to decide the fate of the death penalty law should two competing
ballot initiatives, now in circulation, qualify for the November 2016 election ballot. One initiative,
backed by San Francisco-based Death Penalty Focus, would do away with the death penalty and
convert all existing death sentences to life-in-prison without parole. A second, backed by San
Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos, seeks to cut by half the waiting time in
administering capital punishment cases in the state.
30

Information About The Survey

Methodological Details
The findings in this report come from a Field Poll completed December 15, 2015-January 3, 2016 among
1,003 registered voters in California.
Interviews were administered by telephone using live interviewers in English and Spanish. Individual voters
were sampled at random from listings derived from the statewide voter registration rolls. Once a voter's name
and telephone number had been selected, interviews were attempted with voters on their landline or cell
phone depending on the source of the listing from the voter file and the preference of the voter.
Up to four attempts were made to reach, screen and interview each randomly selected voter on different days
and times of day during the interviewing period. After the completion of interviewing, the sample was
weighted to align it to the proper distribution of voters by race/ethnicity and other demographic, geographic
and party registration characteristics of the state's registered voter population.
Sampling error estimates applicable to the results of any probability-based survey depend on sample size and
the percentage distributions being examined. The maximum sampling error for results from the overall likely
voter sample in this report is +/- 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. These estimates are based
on survey findings in the middle of the sampling distribution (i.e., results at or near 50%). Percentages at or
near either end of the tail of the distributions (i.e., results closer to 10% or 90%) have somewhat smaller
margins of error. There are other potential sources of error in surveys of public opinion besides sampling
error. However, the overall design and execution of this survey sought to minimize these other possible
errors.
The Field Poll was established in 1947 as The California Poll by Mervin Field. The Poll has operated
continuously since then as an independent, non-partisan survey of California public opinion. The Field Poll
receives financial support from leading California newspapers and television stations, who purchase the
rights of first release to Field Poll reports in their primary viewer or readership markets. The Poll also
receives funding from the University of California and California State University systems, who receive the
data files from each Field Poll survey shortly after its completion for teaching and secondary research
purposes, as well as from foundations, non-profit organizations, and others as part of the Poll's policy
research sponsor program.
Questions Asked
Even though state law allows for the death penalty, because of court challenges, California has not executed
any of its death row inmates for many years. In light of this, which of the following two actions do you favor
California taking when it comes to the death penalty: (1) Should it take steps to speed up the execution
process, or (2) Should it do away with the death penalty and replace it with the sentence of life in prison
without the possibility of parole?