Texas voters support legal marijuana: new Quinnipiac poll

Lone Star State voters support legal marijuana almost 2-1, according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll.

By a margin of 61 – 34 percent Texas voters favor allowing adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, according to the poll.

Republican voters opposed legalized marijuana 51-43 percent and voters over 65 years old oppose it 51 – 40 percent. Every other listed party, gender, education, age and racial group support it, according to Quinnipiac.

When it comes to legalizing cannabis, “Texans are not much different than voters in other parts of the country,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the quinnipiac Poll said in a press release.

Recent Quinnipiac polls have shown public support for medical and recreational marijuana to be at all time highs.

In January, Quinnipiac released a national poll showing voters overwhelmingly oppose enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized medical or recreation marijuana.

By a margin of 70 – 23 percent, voters oppose enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana, according to that poll conducted by telephone from Jan. 5 – 9, 2018. The number opposing is essentially unchanged from a year ago, but down five percentage points from August 2017.

Among 18-34 year olds nationwide, only 17 percent are in favor of federal enforcement, with 78 percent opposing. African Americans oppose enforcement by a margin of 79 – 18 percent. No sub-group polled supports enforcing federal laws, with Republicans opposing enforcement by 48-42 percent, according to the January poll.

A Quinnipiac poll released August 3 reported that medical marijuana has broad support: 94 percent of Americans support “allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it,” up from 93 percent 5 months ago, and up 5 points in the last year.

Non-medicinal marijuana is growing in support as well, that poll found, with 61 percent agreeing that “the use of marijuana should be made legal in the United States,” up from 59 percent in February 2017, and up 10 points since December 2012.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts nationwide public opinion surveys, and statewide polls in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa and Colorado as a public service and for research.

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