(Week of 5/11/2013) Two in three Americans follow the news about the kidnappings, captivity and escape of three women in Cleveland, Ohio closely – and nearly half in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll think Ariel Castro, arrested for the crimes, should receive the death penalty if he is found guilty.
This is lower than the percentage favoring the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was arrested in connection with the April Boston Marathon bombings. 54% of those in a late April Economist/YouGov Poll supported the death penalty if Tsarnaev were to be convicted.
For Castro, support for the death penalty is just as high among women as it is among men (traditionally, women have been less likely than men to favor the death penalty in principle). African-Americans also are historically significantly less supportive of the death penalty than are whites, but that is not the case in this poll. 47% of whites and 42% of blacks favor the death penalty if Castro is convicted of kidnapping and rape.
Economist/YouGov poll archives can be found here
Photo source: Press Association
