One in three Americans believe the government should attempt a second execution if a first attempt fails, according to a new the outlet/Ipsos poll released this week.
The four-day survey, completed Monday, found 33% of respondents backing a retry after a botched lethal injection, while 39% preferred converting the sentence to life in prison and 26% remained undecided. The nationwide poll arrived as Tennessee confronts exactly that dilemma following the failed execution of Christa Pike, 50, last month in Nashville.
Pike survived two lethal injection attempts that left her unconscious, critically ill, and with severe arm injuries after two syringes of the caustic barbiturate pentobarbital failed to kill her. She did not regain consciousness until five days after being rushed to a hospital, marking Tennessee’s second botched lethal injection this year.
The issue has gained fresh legal significance as courts weigh whether states may schedule second execution attempts after failed ones. The US Supreme Court recently allowed a state to proceed with exactly that, clearing the path for a new execution date in a similar case.
That precedent traces partly to Kenneth Smith, convicted of a 1988 murder-for-hire, who survived Alabama’s execution chamber in 2022 after prison officials failed to set up intravenous lines. Alabama succeeded on its second try in 2024, employing a new method of suffocation using nitrogen gas.
Capital punishment itself retains narrow majority support, with 55% of Americans backing the death penalty for the most serious crimes, down from 63% in a 2017 the outlet/Ipsos poll. Some 31% of respondents in the latest survey opposed the policy outright, while 13% either did not know or did not answer.
The polling also captured public attitudes toward execution methods and visibility. Some 46% of Americans, including 29% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, said it was appropriate to execute Nidal Hasan, the former US Army major who killed 13 people at Texas’ Fort Hood military base, by firing squad.
But 71% of those surveyed, including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, said showing executions to the public on television or the internet was inappropriate.
That sentiment followed a recent proposal by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream Hasan’s planned execution by firing squad, which would have been the first-ever livestream of a US execution. Following widespread criticism, including from Republican lawmakers, President Donald Trump canceled the livestream plans, though officials still intend to carry out the execution on December 3.
Most countries worldwide, along with 23 US states, have abolished capital punishment entirely. Those states that retain it have struggled in recent years to obtain execution drugs, prompting some to consider alternative methods including firing squads.
The drug shortage has contributed to a string of botched procedures, with Pike’s case joining Tennessee’s earlier failed lethal injection this year in intensifying scrutiny of state protocols. Medical complications from caustic drugs and IV line failures have emerged as recurring technical obstacles.
Hasan’s execution by firing squad remains scheduled for December 3.