Another sign marijuana will be a big issue in the 2016 elections: Voters in three swing states support both legalization and medical use of the Schedule I drug.
Voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania support legalization of medical marijuana by margins of five to one — or more — according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll. Voters also support legalization of recreational marijuana, though by smaller margins.
Decriminalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes garners 84 percent of support in Florida, versus only 14 percent opposition. In Ohio: 84 percent of poll respondents support medical use and 15 percent oppose it. In Pennsylvania, support comes in at 88 percent to just 10 percent. For recreational use, the support-to-opposition ratio is 55-to-42 percent in Florida, 52-to-44 percent in Ohio and 51-to-45 percent in Pennsylvania, the poll found.
Support for liberalizing marijuana laws doesn’t necessarily correlate with use. Eighty-one percent of Florida voters said they “probably” or “definitely” would not use the drug, compared to 84 percent who said the same in Ohio; 83 percent of voters in Pennsylvania said this.
Nor does strong popular support in polls translate into political will. In the 2014 midterm elections, a referendum to legalize medical marijuana in Florida fell short of the 60 percent needed for passage, with only 57.6 percent of the vote.
However, the issue may get a bigger play in the 2016 presidential election. Likely 2016 Republican presidential candidates must consider how a stance toward marijuana that lines up — or doesn’t — with voters in swing states may impact the nomination.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for example, is strongly opposed to marijuana legalization for any purpose, and he was one of the most vocal opponents of Florida’s marijuana referendum. Bush’s fellow Floridian politician, Sen. Marco Rubio, came out in support of limited medical marijuana in 2014 — a non-euphoric type that doesn’t get users high.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is the 2016er who stands out most strongly among the GOP field. Scheduled to officially declare his White House bid Tuesday, Paul cosponsored a Senate bill last month that would end the federal ban on medical marijuana and has been vocal on reforming drug laws for years.
The random phone polls of roughly 1,000 registered voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania were conducted March 17-28. Each state’s sample group had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, respectively.
