COLUMBUS, Ohio – Weeks after a condemned inmate gasped and convulsed for several minutes before succumbing to Ohio’s new combination of lethal drugs in the state’s death chamber, a new poll shows residents still favor the death penalty.
According to the poll by Quinnipiac University, 68 percent of registered voters favor the death penalty 68, to 26 percent who are opposed, but the number shrinks to less than 50 percent when asked whether they favor capital punishment or life in prison with no chance of parole:
47 percent favor the death penalty
36 percent favor life in prison with no chance of parole
12 percent favor life in prison with a chance of parole.
The poll was taken Feb. 12-17 after the troubled execution in January brought the state’s new method of administering lethal injections under scrutiny. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points.