Majority of Americans oppose livestreamed executions: poll

(The Hill) — A new survey found the majority of Americans opposed publicly broadcast executions ahead of the Pentagon’s planned livestreamed execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.

In the YouGov poll, 71 percent of respondents opposed “having executions broadcast live to the public,” while 18 favored it and 13 percent were not sure. Along partisan lines, 52 percent of Republicans opposed livestreamed executions, and 31 favorited it, while 87 percent of Democrats opposed it compared to only 8 percent in favor.

Sixty-seven percent of independent respondents, meanwhile, opposed broadcasting executions, and 17 percent favored it.

This opposition to livestreamed executions comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the public would be able to view Hasan’s Dec. 3 execution by firing squad. Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted for the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 13 people were killed and 32 injured.

Hasan admitted to the murders during his trial, where he acted as his own lawyer, saying in his opening statement that “the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter.”

When considering whether the death penalty should be imposed for a person convicted of murder, 51 percent favored the sentence, 30 percent opposed it, and 19 percent were unsure.

Seventy-five percent of Republican respondents favored the death penalty for those convicted for murder, while 12 percent opposed it and 12 percent were unsure. Among Democrats, 29 percent were supportive, 52 percent were opposed, and 19 percent were unsure.

It is unclear if Hasan’s execution will be livestreamed, as President Trump has given his endorsement for executing Hasan by firing squad but said he “wasn’t involved in that decision” to livestream the execution, telling reporters over the weekend he would “make a decision ultimately” on what to do.

Vice President Vance told reporters last week he would not watch the execution should it be livestreamed, even stating, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.”

The YouGov poll was conducted Oct. 10-12 among 1,402 respondents. The margin of error was 3.5 percent.

Source: klfy.com, Staff, October 15, 2026

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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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