Harris And Trump Supporters Hold Mixed Opinions On Increasing Marijuana Regulations, Poll Finds

A new poll reveals conflicting opinions about whether marijuana should be more or less regulated among supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The YouGov survey, released on Thursday, asked registered voters to weigh in on regulatory preferences for 40 different industries. For each of them, significantly more respondents said they favored increased regulations than fewer—except for cannabis, where there’s a more even split at 38 percent to 32 percent, respectively.

“Cannabis is the only sector where regulation is even a close call,” YouGov said.

But when broken down according to which of the two major party 2024 nominees the respondents say they’re supporting, the poll shows an interesting divide.

While Harris backers are significantly more likely to favor more regulations for the various industries—including for firearms (91 percent), oil and gas (79 percent) and health care (76 percent)—just 37 percent feel the same way about marijuana. That’s in the bottom three in terms of Harris supporters’ preference for “more,” “somewhat more” or unchanged industry rules.

There’s a reverse trend among Trump’s base, who broadly disagree with increasing regulations across the market spectrum but 44 percent of whom say cannabis should be subject to more regulations. There are only five other industries on the list that Trump supporters say should be more heavily overseen, including AI (66 percent), pharmaceuticals (55 percent) and health insurance (49 percent).

For nearly all industries of the 40 polled about, increased regulation is more popular among Harris’ supporters than among Trump’s
Exceptions: pornography, cannabis, entertainment, and the news mediahttps://t.co/ECjBnmhusZ pic.twitter.com/Dt5dWVNcpr

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) September 19, 2024

“For nearly every industry, increased regulation is more popular among registered voters who support Harris than among Trump supporters,” YouGov said. “The largest gaps are in regard to regulating firearms, mining and natural resources, and oil and gas; for each, at least three-quarters of Harris supporters, but fewer than one-third of Trump supporters, want increased regulation. Trump’s supporters are somewhat more likely than Harris’ to favor increased regulation of pornography and of cannabis.”

Now, it’s possible that the specific language used in the survey could lead to some confusion among voter as far as marijuana is concerned, as cannabis currently isn’t regulated in a conventional sense because it remains federally prohibited. Supporters of legalization generally favor creating a regulatory framework for marijuana.

NEW YouGov poll on industry regulation
For each of 40 industries asked about, Americans are more likely to say they support increasing regulation than to say they support decreasing ithttps://t.co/ECjBnmi2ix pic.twitter.com/UjkNlLrgYC

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) September 19, 2024

The YouGov survey involved two rounds of interviews with 2,267 registered voters from September 9-11 and 10-12, with a +/-3 percentage point margin of error.

Overall, the sentiment expressed in the poll is consistent with a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll released last year that found most Americans feel marijuana should be less strictly regulated, while also favoring greater regulations on cryptocurrencies, social media, electric vehicles and coal.

Another survey focused on Texas voters similarly found that more people say they want to reduce restrictions on cannabis than say the same about guns, gambling and abortion in the Lone Star state.

While polling has generally found that more Democrats back cannabis reform compared to Republicans, the latest YouGov survey also comes as the party’s nominee makes headlines for coming out in favor of federal rescheduling, industry banking access and a Florida legalization ballot initiative.

Harris has also championed legalization in the past—calling for it privately as recently as March and sponsoring a bill to end prohibition during her time in the Senate, for example. But since becoming the Democratic nominee, she’s been curiously silent about the issue.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.