This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, February 4th, 2021.

I'm Caleb Brown.

In the last six months of the Trump administration, the federal government executed 13 people under the federal

death penalty and that killing concluded just days before President

Biden was sworn in.

Anna Cox is the National Manager for Conservatives concerned about the death penalty.

We spoke last month.

In general, where do conservatives, that is to say, as distinguished from libertarians,

where do conservatives stand on the death penalty broadly?

Yeah, well broadly we're seeing a real decline among conservatives. They still

support it in larger numbers than libertarians or Democrats do.

But as a whole, we've been seeing a downward trajectory

for about the past two decades.

And to the point where every year, we now have 10 or 11 states

that have Republican sponsored bills to repeal the death penalty and in every

state where we've been successful, we've had significant Republican support to do so.

It really, you would not see the movement away from the death penalty conservatives in this picture and so while they still

supported I think a little I don't remember the numbers off top of my head something like 50

55% maybe that they also were moving away.

It used to be in the 80s, 90 percent tile,

and that's just not any longer the case.

If it weren't so tragic, and I would say,

...