The poll by Siena College Research Institute showed that 42% of voters support capital punishment while 46% oppose it. But when life without parole is offered as an alternative to execution of heinous criminals, 56% of voters favor the nonlethal punishment.

The poll comes amid fierce legislative debate over whether the death penalty should be reinstated. The state's highest court nixed the statute last June.

Although the GOP-led Senate has passed a measure that addresses the flaws identified by the Court of Appeals, Assembly Democrats say capital punishment is too costly and that innocent people could be executed.

In the city, only 32% said the death penalty should be reinstituted. In the suburbs, 49% of voters backed it.

The Legislature's most ardent death penalty supporter, Sen. Dale Volker (R-Depew), questioned the survey's accuracy and predicted that enough lawmakers will be out to save their jobs next year to put the death penalty back on the books.

"The Democrats will do this next year because they know what will happen to them if they don't," Volker said.

But Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester), a death penalty foe, said of the poll: "It's a great relief to see the politics come our way. It shows there is a stong moral force to people's concerns."

Joe Mahoney