Posts Tagged ‘Rasmussen poll’
High Support for Marijuana Legalization in Colorado, 61% Say Regulate Like Alcohol and Tobacco
by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator
A just-released statewide poll by Rasmussen Reports provides strong evidence that Colorado may likely become the first state to re-legalize and regulate the personal use of marijuana this November.
On June 6th, Rasmussen Polling conducted a survey of likely voters in Colorado and found majority support for marijuana legalization. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed supported legalizing marijuana if it were regulated like alcohol and cigarettes. Only 27 percent of respondents are opposed to legalization and 12 percent remain undecided.
This is great news for Amendment 64, a 2012 statewide ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition and regulate marijuana like alcohol, which will appear on the Colorado ballot this November. Rasmussen’s recent survey shows support shifting upwards from previous polling. In December 2011, Public Policy Polling reported that 49 percent of Coloradan’s believed that marijuana use should be legal versus 40 percent who believed it should remain illegal.
Lately, the mainstream media has caught on to the important role that Amendment 64 will play in this fall’s presidential election. This poll is just further proof of that claim’s validity. During the same time period, Rasmussen polled Colorado voters on their presidential preference and respondents were split, 45 percent for Obama and 45 percent support for Romney. Amendment 64 promises to turn out greater numbers of independent minded and youth voters in November, if either candidate embraced rational marijuana policy reforms, this important battleground state could be theirs to win. If neither does, it remains to be seen if they will lose these potential votes to the third party candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson, who advocates for marijuana legalization as a part of his platform. The marijuana issue is one that the two major parties can continue to ignore, but they are now doing so at their own peril.
You can learn more about Amendment 64 in Colorado here.
You can view more data on the Rasmussen poll here.
Rasmussen Poll: Plurality Of Americans Support Legalizing And Taxing Cannabis
Asbury Park, NJ: A solid plurality of Americans now support legalizing and taxing the production and sale of cannabis, according to nationwide Rasmussen poll of 1,000 adults.
According to the telephone poll, 47 percent of adults “believe the country should legalize and tax marijuana in order to help solve the nation’s fiscal problems.” Forty-two percent of respondents disagree, while ten percent are undecided.
The survey of 1,000 Adults nationwide was conducted on March 24-25, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
In 2011, a nationwide Gallup poll reported that 50 percent of Americans support legalizing the use of cannabis for adults. Forty-six percent of respondents said they opposed the idea.
The 2011 Gallup survey results marked the first time that the polling firm, which has tracked Americans’ attitudes toward marijuana since the late 1960s, reported that more Americans support legalizing cannabis than oppose it.
Commenting on the latest poll results, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said: “For the second time in less than a year we have pollsters from a national, well-respected firm reporting that far more Americans now support legalizing marijuana than endorse maintaining criminal prohibition. It is high time for state and federal lawmakers to acknowledge this political reality and respond to the will of their constituents.”
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.