Californians turning against the death penalty?

A new Public Policy Institute of California survey finds the highest opposition to executions ever:

Majorities Favor Life Imprisonment over the Death Penalty
In the wake of Newsom’s decision to place a moratorium on the death penalty in California, our survey tracks if residents’ views have shifted over time. When Californians are asked whether the penalty for first-degree murder should be death or life imprisonment with absolutely no possibility of parole, a record-high 62 percent of adults (58% of likely voters) choose life imprisonment. Just 31 percent of adults (38% of likely voters) favor the death penalty. By contrast, California adults were evenly split in 2000 (47% life imprisonment, 49% death penalty).

This result is hard to square with repeated failures to pass anti-death penalty initiatives in 2012 and 2016. An LA Times discussion of the polling history suggests that those measures failed because opponents succeeded in making the vile crimes of vicious men the content of the vote.

Perhaps, but the data also suggests two other possibilities if, as I suspect, the death penalty is really a low salience issue about which most people only reflect sporadically. The survey followed hard on Gov. Gavin's announcement there would be no executions during his term. It's just possible that leadership is efficacious here. New Governor Newsom is probably riding as high in civic esteem as he ever will as he begins his term; at least for the moment, perhaps he has broken through our inattention.

Moreover, the same survey shows opposition to the death penalty becoming a more partisan issue. Seventy-six percent of Democrats oppose executions, while 64 percent of Republicans support the penalty. Since Republicans are a vanishing species these days in the state, partisanship is lending anti-execution campaigns a boost.

Newsom has declared a moratorium, but the death penalty can only be ended legally by popular vote. Perhaps state Democratic legislators will dare take the death penalty to the voters in 2020 when Democratic turnout is likely to be off the charts?