The documentation of the built-in compile() function is not 100% clear but I think it says that giving the "optimize=1" argument turns "__debug__" to false in the compiled code ( https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/functions.html?highlight=compile#compile ).  It doesn't work this way in practice, though:

    python3.5
    >>> exec(compile("print(__debug__)", "exec", "exec", optimize=1))
    True

I'd recommend to fix either the documentation or the source code.

I can reproduce your example on 3.4, but for the comparison:

>>> exec(compile("if __debug__: print(42)", "exec", "exec", optimize=1))

>>> exec(compile("if __debug__: print(42)", "exec", "exec", optimize=0))
42

So, it's not as straightforward as one might imagine.

If __debug__ were referenced from the code object's co_consts instead of checking locals, globals and builtins (LOAD_NAME), then optimize=1 would work consistently for a given code object. 

Currently in 3.4.1:

    >>> dis.dis(compile("if __debug__: x = 1", "", "exec", optimize=0))
      1           0 LOAD_CONST               0 (1)
                  3 STORE_NAME               0 (x)
                  6 LOAD_CONST               1 (None)
                  9 RETURN_VALUE

    >>> dis.dis(compile("if __debug__: x = 1", "", "exec", optimize=1))
      1           0 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
                  3 RETURN_VALUE

    >>> dis.dis(compile("x = __debug__", "", "exec", optimize=0))
      1           0 LOAD_NAME                0 (__debug__)
                  3 STORE_NAME               1 (x)
                  6 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
                  9 RETURN_VALUE

    >>> dis.dis(compile("x = __debug__", "", "exec", optimize=1))
      1           0 LOAD_NAME                0 (__debug__)
                  3 STORE_NAME               1 (x)
                  6 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
                  9 RETURN_VALUE

With the current design, an exec can override builtins.__debug__ in globals or locals:

    >>> exec("print(__debug__)", globals(), {"__debug__": "spam"})
    spam

I just opened #27169: "__debug__ is not optimized out at compile time for anything but `if:` and `while:` blocks" as a more general case of this bug.

This bug covers inconsistent behavior, but ultimately, it's caused by incomplete optimization: `__debug__` doesn't act as a compile time constant outside of `if:` and `while:` blocks, so the behavior is inconsistent for all other uses in the `compile` case where `optimize` doesn't match the main interpreter session, and inefficient for all other uses whether or not `compile` is involved.

If #27169 is resolved as I suggested (or in some other similar way), it would also resolve this bug.

New changeset 3325a6780c81f1ea51190370b5454879c4862a37 by Serhiy Storchaka in branch 'master':
bpo-27169: The __debug__ constant is now optimized out at compile time. (#4880)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/3325a6780c81f1ea51190370b5454879c4862a37

Is it worth to backport this change?

> Is it worth to backport this change?

It's an optimization, usually the answer is no.

The change is short and can be seen as a bugfix, so it's up to you, it's ok to backport to 3.6, and maybe even 2.7, if it's not too hard to write the backport.

New changeset b82da9ebb20053637e731fd40589e1e52f9f8f6e by Serhiy Storchaka in branch '3.6':
[3.6] bpo-27169: The __debug__ constant is now optimized out at compile time. (GH-4880) (#4882)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/b82da9ebb20053637e731fd40589e1e52f9f8f6e

The backport to 3.6 is straightforward, but backporting to 2.7 would require larger changes.