The percentage of Americans who say the death penalty is applied fairly hit a record low of 49 percent, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday, the first time it has dropped below the 50-percent mark since the survey began asking the question in 2000.

Forty-five percent said the death penalty is applied unfairly.

The survey was conducted just days before the Washington Supreme Court struck down that state's death penalty, saying it had been unequally applied across racial groups, citing evidence that "black defendants were 4½ times more likely to be sentenced to death than similarly situated white defendants."

Other results from the poll include:

• Among Democrats, only 31 percent said the death penalty is applied fairly, which is down significantly from 2005 and 2006, when slim majorities of Democrats held this view.

• Among Republicans, 73 percent said the death penalty is applied fairly, a percentage which has been fairly stable over time.
• Thirty-seven percent of Americans said the death penalty is not imposed enough, down from a high of 53 percent in 2005 and is by one point the lowest reading since 2001. In the latest survey, 29 percent said the death penalty is imposed too often and 28 percent said "about the right amount."
• Fifty-six percent of Americans favor capital punishment, which marked the lowest level of support since 1972, when the constitutionality of the death penalty was being challenged. Support for capital punishment has been trending downward since peaking at 80 percent in the mid-1990s.

The question was included on the Gallup annual crime poll, which was conducted among 1,019 adults between October 1-10. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

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