CBS Poll Has Support for Marijuana Legalization at All-Time High

by Phillip Smith

A CBS News poll released this week has support for marijuana legalization at an all-time high, with as many Americans now saying it should be legal as saying it should not. Some 47% of respondents said it should be legal, while another 47% were opposed.

This poll marks the first time a CBS News poll has shown as much support for legalization as there is opposition. And the number favoring legalization has climbed two points since CBS last asked the question in September, while the number opposing it has declined by two points.

The poll is in line with a growing number of polls in the last couple of years that show marijuana legalization hovering on the cusp of majority support. A Gallup poll last year had support at 50%, while an Angus-Reid poll this week had support at 54%.

And in what could be a warning signal to Washington, the poll found that 59% thought states should determine whether marijuana should be legal, while only 34% thought the federal government should.

Pot legalization had majority support among independents (55%) and Democrats (51%), but not Republicans (27%). It had majority support among young people (18-to-29, 54%; 30-to-44, 53%), but not among the middle aged (46%) or those 65 and older (30%). The poll did not provide a breakdown by gender.

The poll also found overwhelming support for medical marijuana (83%), even though only 29% thought most medical marijuana "is being used to alleviate suffering from serious illnesses."

The poll was conducted November 16-19 with 1,100 respondents using both land lines and cell phones. The margin of error is +/- 3.1%.

SHARE:

Email This

Latest Resistance
- Rand Paul RIPS Colleagues For 'Berating' Apple Over Taxes. Congress Should Be On Trial
- Rep. Cohen Tears Into AG Holder On Marijuana
- Aaron Swartz's Last Project: Open Source System To Securely & Anonymously Submit Documents To The Press
- Stateless Citizens: Americans renounce citizenship over 'unfair' taxation & policies
- Glenn Greenwald Exposes Bill Maher's Hypocrisy On Muslims & American Exceptionalism
- Adam Kokesh on CBS DC WUSA9
- Disease and The Drive to Hide with Stefan Molyneux and Jeffrey Tucker
- DIY Law Enforcement in Cash-Strapped Oregon County

Comments

Add Comment

Page 1 of 1

jway

Posted: Dec 11 2012, 12:21 PM

Link

50203

Congress doesn't care about "warning signals". It's going to keep marijuana illegal no matter what it takes and how many people it harms.

The funny thing about these legislators is that they really don't know *why* they keep marijuana illegal - all they know is that marijuana "must be illegal" and that's that. Well, that's not good enough.

We pay them a lot of money to analyze the problems facing society and come up with the best solutions, we do NOT pay them to blindly perpetuate failed policies which cause more harm than good!!

Marijuana is significantly milder, safer and less addictive than alcohol, there is absolutely NO good reason why we shouldn't be able to choose marijuana instead of alcohol! We need to talk to our legislators about legalizing marijuana like wine at the federal level.

Add Comment

Name

Comment

* No HTML

Verification *

Please Enter the Verification Code Seen Below

PLEASE NOTE

Please see our About Page, our Disclaimer, and our Comments Policy.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.

About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy