Gallup poll shows a vast majority of Americans support cannabis legalization

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: a record number of Americans believe that cannabis should be legal.

That’s the key finding from the latest poll published by Gallup Thursday, which found that more than two-thirds of adults in the United States – or 68 percent – support marijuana legalization.

The great pollster said he has “documented increasing support for marijuana legalization for more than five decades, with particularly sharp increases in the 2000s and 2010s”.

The majority of support for legalization has been won by Gallup since 2013, when more than 50 percent of Americans said they supported the policy for the first time.

The latest results are in line with Gallup’s poll last year, which also found that 68 percent of American adults supported legalizing marijuana.

The 2020 poll, Gallup noted at the time, showed that “US marijuana legalization is now more likely than ever in the past five decades.”

Like last year’s poll, the latest poll found that “a solid majority of US adults in all major subgroups by gender, age, income and education support marijuana legalization.”

“However, substantial differences are seen by political party and religion,” explained Gallup. “While most Democrats (83%) and political independents (71%) are in favor of legalization, Republicans are almost equally divided on this issue (50% in favor, 49% against). Weekly and semi-regular church attendants are also split on this issue, while those who rarely or never attend broadly support marijuana legalization.

The poll results are in line with national legalization over the past decade as changing attitudes helped usher in marijuana reform.

More than a dozen states have since moved to legalize adult recreational pot consumption, with voters in both liberal and conservative strongholds welcoming the reform. Last year, voters in four states – New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota – passed votes that legalized recreational marijuana.

As is so often the case, the poll was clearly a political impetus.

Gallup survey is consistent with results from other recent surveys

A poll published earlier this year by Quinnipiac University found results similar to the latest Gallup poll.

The Quinnipiac poll found that about 70 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, the highest number ever recorded in a national poll.

And while the legalization measures have so far been implemented at the state and municipal level, there are increasing signs that the federal government may be ready to follow suit.

Earlier this year, the Democrats in Congress introduced the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act of 2021, or “The MORE Act of 2021,” which would “decriminalize and de-plan cannabis” … … provide for the elimination of certain cannabis offenses and other purposes. “

In the spring, New York City Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed that Democrats were ready to push legalization forward, pointing to the success of state legalization.

“In 2018 I was the first member of the democratic leadership to speak out in favor of ending the federal ban. I’m sure you’re asking, ‘Well what has changed?’ Well, my thinking has evolved. When some of the early states – Oregon and Colorado – tried to legalize, all opponents spoke of the Parade of Horrors: crime would rise. Drug use would increase. Anything bad would happen, ”said Schumer at the time. “The legalization of states has worked remarkably well. You were a great success. The Terrible Parade never took place and people were given more freedom. And the people in these states seem very happy. “