Highlights:
- Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 39% favor life in prison after botched execution
- Poll shows 55% support capital punishment, down from 63% in 2017
- Survey gathered responses from 1,679 US adults and had 2-point margin of error
One-third of Americans think the government should try a second time to put a convicted criminal to death if a first execution attempt fails, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee.
The four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 39% of respondents thought the government should instead allow convicts to serve life in prison following a failed execution, while 26% were not sure which was a better approach.
The nationwide survey found minority public support for trying again to execute inmates who survive execution attempts, a question Tennessee now faces after Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injection attempts last month in Nashville.
The convicted murderer was taken to a hospital unconscious following the attempted execution, critically ill and with severe arm injuries after two syringes of the caustic barbiturate pentobarbital failed to kill her, marking Tennessee's second botched lethal injection this year. She did not regain consciousness until five days later.
Most countries around the world, along with 23 US states, have abolished capital punishment. Those US states that still impose it have struggled in recent years to obtain execution drugs, and some have considered other methods, including firing squads.
A slight majority of Americans — 55% — continue to support capital punishment for people convicted of the most serious crimes, down from 63% who said in a 2017 Reuters/Ipsos poll that they supported the policy. Some 31% of respondents in the latest poll said they opposed the death penalty, while 13% either did not know or did not answer the question.
The issue has taken on new significance as courts consider whether states can make a second execution attempt after a failed one.
The US Supreme Court recently allowed a state to proceed with scheduling a second execution date after a failed attempt. Kenneth Smith, convicted of a 1988 murder-for-hire, survived a trip to Alabama's execution chamber in 2022 after prison officials failed to set up intravenous lines. But Alabama succeeded on its second try in 2024 with a new method of suffocation using nitrogen gas.
Opposition to livestreaming executions
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently floated the prospect of the first-ever livestream of a US execution, the planned death by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army major who killed 13 people at Texas' Fort Hood military base.
Following widespread criticism – including from Republican lawmakers – President Donald Trump canceled the livestream plans, though officials still intend to carry out the execution on 3 December.
Some 46% of Americans, including 29% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, said it was appropriate to execute Hasan by firing squad. But 71% of people surveyed, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans, said showing executions to the public on television or the internet was inappropriate.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online and nationwide, gathering responses from 1,679 US adults. It had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.