Poll: South Dakota legalization initiative at risk of failure

A marijuana legalization initiative in South Dakota could go up in smoke this November, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted by pollster Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy on behalf of the nonprofit local news agency South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota, found a majority of Mount Rushmore state voters opposed Legalization of recreational cannabis.

Just over 54% of voters opposed legalization, while just under 44% supported it.

The poll data presents a potential source of concern for legalization activists in South Dakota, who have expressed confidence that state voters will do what they did in 2020 and vote on a recreational cannabis proposal agree.

In 2020, 54 percent of South Dakota voters passed Amendment A, which would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state and laid the groundwork for a regulated cannabis industry.

However, the change was the subject of a legal challenge led by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and was eventually struck down by the state Supreme Court last November.

Organizers quickly got back into the field and eventually got a new legalization proposal in this year’s vote.

The new proposal, Initiated Measure 27, legalized adult possession of cannabis in the state, but left many of the regulatory details to the legislature.

Matthew Schweich, the campaign director for South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, said in May that the group collected more than 8,000 signatures over the qualification threshold to ensure it would qualify.

“One of the main reasons we maintained such ambitious goals for our signature drive was to make sure we had a healthy margin so we could deter our opponents from filing a lawsuit,” Schweich told Argus Leader at the time. “This was the plan to have that buffer and ensure there were no more lawsuits about cannabis initiatives in South Dakota.”

After the new poll was released last week, Schweich said he was more confused than anything.

“If I look a little closer, I find things that don’t make sense to me,” Schweich told local news channel KELO. “Some of the numbers don’t really make sense and are in stark contrast to previous data we’ve seen.”

KELO reported that “Schweich pointed out that certain elements in the News Watch/USD poll are inconsistent with previous indicators of support for South Dakota’s legalization.”

“I see this as a flawed survey, but one that I need to keep in mind as a motivation to keep working hard,” Schweich told KELO. “I’m not going to dismiss this poll entirely, and it’s a reminder that we must work really hard and take nothing for granted as of late it has become increasingly difficult to predict what an electorate will be like.”

A poll late last year found that a slim majority of South Dakota voters disapproved of Noem’s handling of cannabis legalization, while just 39% said they agreed.

During a campaign freeze earlier this month, Noem said she will implement the new cannabis law if a majority of voters approve the measure launched on November 27.

“From what I’ve seen, this amendment that will be put to the vote this year is written more appropriately towards the Constitution,” Noem said, as quoted by the Argus leader.