High-profile murders drive even higher broad support in Connecticut for the death penalty

Though all the standard political news and punditry would lead one to believe that most Americans cannot agree on anything, this local story from Connecticut provides another reminder that support for the death penalty often draws lots of support, especially in the wake of a high-profile murder.  The piece is headlined "Support for Conn. death penalty hits 10-year high," and here are excerpts:

Support for Connecticut's death penalty has reached its highest point in more than a decade, and even some who generally oppose capital punishment say it's appropriate for a man convicted in the 2007 deadly Cheshire home invasion, according to a new poll.

Quinnipiac University's poll, released Wednesday, found 65 percent of those surveyed support the death penalty.  That's up from 61 percent two years ago, and the highest number since the year 2000.

It comes as Steven Hayes faces sentencing this month after being convicted of murder, rape and other charges for his part in the 2007 deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela.  Prosecutors are asking jurors to send him to death row.

Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of the attack that killed his family and burned down his home, has been a vocal supporter of the death penalty.  He wants it imposed against Hayes and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, who awaits trial.  

The Quinnipiac poll results show many Connecticut voters share Petit's view about Hayes, whose attorney plans to ask jurors to impose life in prison without parole....  Three of every four people surveyed favored the death penalty for Hayes, with 18 percent against it and 6 percent undecided.  Men were slightly more likely to support it than women.

There are 10 inmates on death row in Connecticut.... The last person executed in Connecticut was serial killer Michael Ross in 2005.

The General Assembly approved a ban in 2009 on imposing the death penalty for future convictions — which would have included Hayes — but not retroactively for death row inmates, whose cases are in various stages of appeals.  Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the ban, saying the state cannot tolerate people who commit particularly heinous murders.

Connecticut hanged inmates until 1937, when it started using the electric chair. It switched to lethal injection in 1995.  The last inmate executed before Ross in 2005 was Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky in 1960.  Taborsky was electrocuted for a string of robberies and killings that left six people dead over four weeks in late 1956 and early 1957.

Quinnipiac's new poll was taken over five days starting Oct. 7, two days after Hayes was convicted in New Haven Superior Court. The survey included 1,721 registered Connecticut voters and has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points in either direction.

Though many academics view support for the death penalty to be contensious and controversial, these poll numbers suggest otherwise.  In particular, the fact that 75% of folks in Connecticut favor the death penalty for triple murderer Steven Hayes, while only 18% oppose the death penalty for him suggest that there is more consensus on this issue than just about another other high-profile political or legal issue that is often subject to policy debate. 

Indeed, I cannot think of any other comparable issue in which poll numbers are so strong in one direction, and I encourage readers (especially death penalty abolitionists) to spotlight in the comments whether they can cite to any comparable issue in which the views of the general public are so strong in one direction.