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SOURCE: http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-poll-voters-do-not-favor-ending-1473950737-htmlstory.html
California voters oppose ending state's death penalty
More than half of voters oppose a
November ballot measure that would abolish the California death
penalty, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll conducted
by SurveyMonkey.
Proposition 62, which would
replace capital punishment with life without parole, had 40% support among
the 1,909 registered voters polled in September across the state. Nine percent
had no answer.
It is one of two measures
on the future of the death penalty that voters will weigh
on Nov. 8. Both capital punishment initiatives would require
current death row inmates to work and pay restitution to victims but take
opposing approaches to what the measures both call a broken system.
Proposition 66 would keep the
death penalty, limiting the number of petitions prisoners can file
to challenge their convictions and sentences, and providing new
deadlines intended to expedite appeals.
The poll only surveyed on Prop. 62,
which has garnered some high-profile supporters, including California
billionaire Tom
Steyer and Former
President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
A campaign to defeat Prop. 62 and
support Prop. 66 has wide support from law enforcement officials across
California.
Jacob Hay, a spokesman for the
campaign in favor of the measure, disputed the results, saying internal polling
using the full ballot language — including its fiscal impact —
showed Prop. 62 in the lead.
"Voters move quickly towards
Prop. 62 when they learn about the $150 million in annual savings Prop. 62
brings and how it guarantees California never executes an innocent
person," Hay said. "Prop. 62 is the only real solution to a
failed system that has cost $384 million per execution, delivers no crime
prevention benefits, and is an empty promise to victims’ families."
Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne
Marie Schubert, a Prop. 66 supporter, disagreed. "This poll is
consistent with what we see in other polls that show Californians support
the death penalty but they want it fixed, and this is what Prop. 66
does," she said.
An earlier version of this post
incorrectly said more than 51% of voters oppose the proposition. It is 51% of
voters.
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