Americans Say Harris Would Be Better For Cannabis Industry In New Poll That Shows Even Trump Voters Are Divided

Americans overwhelmingly believe that Vice President Kamala Harris would be more beneficial for the U.S. cannabis industry if elected president than former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll released on Thursday. Even Republican voters are largely split between the two candidates in terms of which one they believe would be better for marijuana businesses.

Overall, 45 percent of respondents said the cannabis industry would do better if Harris were elected next week, while just 16 percent believed Trump would be more of a boon to the sector, according to the new YouGov poll of 1,129 U.S. adult citizens conducted last week. Meanwhile 26 percent said they weren’t sure who would better aid the industry, and 13 percent said they felt the two candidates were about equal on the issue.

By party identification, Democrats are broadly confident in Harris, with nearly two-thirds (65 percent) saying she’d be better for the cannabis industry and just 4 percent saying Trump would. Republicans were divided, however, with 31 percent saying Trump would be better, while 30 percent said Harris actually would be.

Of the 20 industries asked about in a recent survey, majorities of Democrats think 16 of the industries would do better under a Harris presidency
Majorities of Republicans think 19 of the 20 industries asked about would do better under a Trump presidencyhttps://t.co/bMDw1vZ9rr pic.twitter.com/3jBlEVFWWl

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) October 31, 2024

Even among those who said they plan to vote for Trump this year, just 33 percent said he’d do better for the cannabis industry, and 30 percent said Harris would. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) said they weren’t sure.

Among respondents identifying as politically independent, 37 percent said Harris would be better for the cannabis industry, while 14 percent said Trump was the better candidate for the sector. More than a third (37 percent) said they weren’t sure between the two candidates, while 12 percent said they’d do about the same.

Cannabis was one of 20 different industries that the YouGov poll asked about. Overall, voters said Trump would be better for 13 of the 20 industries. But of all industries, cannabis was the one with the smallest proportion of respondents who said Trump would be the better president.

Among every demographic group identified in the YouGov survey, all but Republicans and Trump voters said Harris would be better for the cannabis industry.

Notably, the survey did not distinguish between the largely separate marijuana and hemp markets in the the country. A majority of states have legalized some form of higher-THC marijuana, whether for medical or adult use, while hemp was legalized nationwide through the 2018 Farm Bill.

YouGov

Release of the new survey comes days after a separate poll by the marijuana telehealth platform NuggMD found that 53 percent of cannabis consumers plan to votes for Harris in the presidential election, while 40 percent said they would vote for Trump.

Pollsters in that survey also isolated voters in six specific states: California, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Majorities of marijuana consumers in three of those states said they’re backing Harris; two are going for Trump; and in one, cannabis voters are evenly split.

Another recent series of polls on Pennsylvania voters in competitive districts, including those currently controlled by Republican lawmakers, found bipartisan support for legalizing marijuana.

A separate YouGov poll released last week, meanwhile, found that a majority of voters—including supporters Trump—back the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana. Trump supporters were more likely to say that cannabis laws are important them compared to voters supporting Harris.

While this is the first election in U.S. history where both major party candidates are in favor of legalizing marijuana, the Harris campaign has been leaning more strongly into her reform position in recent weeks.

For example, last week Harris included legalizing marijuana as one of the top items on her “to-do list” if she wins the presidential election.

That came just weeks after the vice president first pledged to federally legalize marijuana since becoming the party’s nominee, promising that access to cannabis will become “the law of the land.”

If elected, she will “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” the Harris campaign said.

Also, last month, Harris made clear she still supports legalizing cannabis, which she previously pushed for as a senator but had not publicly discussed since becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.

Separately, she also recently said that part of the reason for the delay in the administration’s current marijuana rescheduling effort is federal bureaucracy that “slows things down,” including at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), has also been talking cannabis policy on the campaign trail. Last week, for example, he stressed that marijuana legalization must be coupled with policies that give those who’ve been disproportionately targeted by criminalization “the first shot to make money” in the legal cannabis industry.

While Harris and Walz are aligned in their belief that prohibition should be replaced with a system of legalization and regulation, the governor has largely focused on the rights of states to set their own cannabis laws, rather than weigh in on federal legalization prospects.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), has voiced support for letting states decide on their own marijuana policies, though he’s also said they should increase enforcement activities and complained about the smell of cannabis multiple times. Additionally, he’s repeatedly sounded the alarm about fentanyl-laced marijuana, though he more recently conceded that the issue isn’t widespread.

The Harris–Walz campaign, meanwhile, has accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform—arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.

Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for a Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign has been working to communicate to voters that, while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”

Last week, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said Harris’s support for marijuana legalization is part of the nominee’s “freedom agenda.” He made the remarks at an event hosted by musician and marijuana icon Willie Nelson on Thursday.

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