Eight in 10 Americans oppose livestreaming the Fort Hood shooter's execution, poll finds

Most Americans have no interest in seeing the execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan play out online. A national poll taken Oct. 9 to 13 found that 80 percent of adults oppose livestreaming it while 18 percent like the idea.

Rare agreement across party lines

The opposition reaches across the political map. Roughly 91 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of independents and 64 percent of Republicans said the execution should not be streamed. Even among people who support the firing squad, 69 percent said the public should not watch it live.

Among Republicans who identify with the MAGA movement, 55 percent reject a stream. That share rises to 79 percent among other Republicans. About two in three people who voted for the president in 2024 also said no.

The execution itself splits the country

Support for carrying out the sentence is much thinner. A bare 53 percent majority backs executing Hasan by firing squad and 42 percent oppose it. About 8 in 10 Republicans favor it compared with about half of independents and roughly a third of Democrats. Men are more supportive than women by 60 percent to 46 percent.

A stream still in question

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at the Texas post in 2009 in what he called an act of jihad. He is scheduled to die in December at the same base. It would be the Army's first execution since 1961 and the first military firing squad since 1945.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has promised that the execution will be streamed and the Pentagon repeated that this week. The president has said no final decision has been made on making it public. The survey of 2,545 adults carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.