| Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters Feb. 17-18, 2004 | 71% Want Death Penalty for Carlie Killer 60% of Those Following Story Want Judges Removed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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February 19,
2004--Seventy-one percent (71%) of American voters say that Carlie Brucia's
murderer should be receive the death penalty. A Rasmussen Reports survey
found that just 15% said he should not be put to death. Joseph Smith has been accused of kidnapping and murdering the 11-year old Florida girl. If Smith is found guilty, just 43% believe he will actually receive the death penalty. Thirty percent (30%) say he will not be put to death. Among those who believe the death penalty should be applied in this case, only half (49%) believe it will be applied. According to Scott Rasmussen "Polls like this reflect an underlying lack of trust in our system of justice." In fact, the Rasmussen Reports survey found that 65% of all voters believe that Florida judges were too lenient in dealing with the accused murderer. Just 22% say that "no one could have known that Smith would eventually be accused of murder." Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters across the nation believe that judges who put Smith on probation should be removed from office by voters. Just 27% disagree. Among those who are closely following the story, 60% say the judges should be removed from office while only 22% disagree. Florida law requires all judges to face the voters on a regular basis in a retention election. There are significantly different ideological perspectives on the Brucia murder. Seventy-five percent (75%) of conservatives say that judges handling the accused killer were too lenient. Only 15% disagree. Among self-identified liberals, 50% say the judges were too liberal while 31% disagree. By a 55% to 21% margin, conservatives believe that the judges involved should be removed from office by voters. Liberals are divided on this point with 41% saying that they should be removed and 35% saying that the judges should retain their jobs. The Carlie Brucia tragedy has attracted substantial interest across the country with 73% of Americans saying they are following the story somewhat or very closely. The national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports February 17-18, 2004. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. (see Methodology) Rasmussen Reports monitors current events, business trends, and political campaigns on a daily basis. We provide a comprehensive Election 2004 polling service including daily updates of the Presidential Race and economic confidence. |
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