It’s a politician’s nightmare. A high profile situation with the whole world watching where you must make a choice, and regardless what you choose, one side will be enraged and you will make permanent, lasting enemies.
Schwarzenegger has been liberal on some social issues, like prisons. He appointed Jeanne Woodford as Director of the Calif. Dept. of Corrections and she is a genuine reformer who wants to get inmates off alcohol and drugs so they don’t return. In California prisons, this is a sea change.
He’s also a converted Catholic, and the Catholic Church opposes the death penalty.
So, we shall see.